The Gathering
by NancyLaj
Summary: Brand New Chapter! What could cause The Scoobies to not speak to each other for 5 years? Will the return of The First reunite them or divide them? Many characters return in this post-season 7 fanfic, as well as some new faces.
1. Reader's Info Page and Prologue

The Gathering

Summary: What could cause The Scoobies to not speak to each other for 5 years? Will the return of The First reunite them or divide them? Many characters return in this post-season 7 fanfic, as well as some new faces. This fanfic will include multiple couple, the primary being Willow and Tara. But have a look at the list of characters below and see if you can figure out who the other couples might be. This fanfic is based on the lyrics from the song The Gathering by Delain.

Character Information Page

The Coven

Willow Rosenburg:  
·27 years old.  
·Left Cleveland in late 2003.  
·Moved to England and joined the Mother coven.  
·In 2006, she was asked to leave the Mother coven. This prompted her to begin her own coven in Scotland.

Ellie Kerezsi  
·15 years old.  
·She was born in Italy, but traveled the world with her American mother.  
·Her mother, Miranda, died 3 years prior, in 2005.  
·Ellie has lived with Willow since that day.  
·She has been kicked out of two British private schools and she is often in trouble with the headmaster of her current school in Scotland.

Celeste Legaults:  
·22 years old.  
·Born in France but raised in England.  
·Wealthy Socialite.  
·Joined the mother-coven at the age of 16 as a form of rebellion against her parents.

Hope Thomas:  
·47 years old.  
·Born and raised in England, within the coven walls.  
·She was considered an Elder within the Mother coven until she decided to follow Willow to Scotland.

The Slayers

Buffy Summers:  
·28 years old.  
·She has spent the last 5 years, training new slayers and patrolling.  
·Giles remains her watcher.  
·There are 6 slayer squads in Cleveland, one of them being Buffy's special team. The team consists of 3 young slayers who are the best at their individual skills.

April Nash:  
·23 years old.  
·She was born and raised in Canada.  
·She was the first new slayer to be trained by Buffy, after the collapse of Sunnydale.  
·One third of Buffy's special squad, her strength is her ability with most long-range weapons.  
·½ of the "Duo of Doom" and also Buffy's second-in-command.

Kerry Sullivan:  
·18 years old.  
·She is from Ireland.  
·She is a senior at Cleveland High.  
·She is the second member of Buffy's squad, her strengths being her intensive training in the martial arts and her abilities with the katana.  
·Second-half of the "Duo of Doom".

Paige Taylor:  
·15 years old.  
·She is both a freshman and a cheerleader at Cleveland High.  
·Has only been a slayer for 6 months, yet is already the third and final member of Buffy's special team.  
·Born and raised in Australia.  
·She is a cheerleader.

Hunters

Xander Harris:  
·28 years old.  
·He is the co-leader of a group of human demon hunters, along with Gage.  
·He has been married to Lucy for 2 years.

Gage Dukes:  
·25 years old.  
·He has lived in Cleveland his whole life.  
·He has been a hunter since the age of 18, after watching his girlfriend die at the hands of the Bringers. Which opened his eyes to the world of the supernatural.

Nolan Ryan:  
·20 years old and from Alaska.  
·He has a twin sister, Lucy.  
·Their parents were killed by unknown demons, 4 years prior, while the family vacationed in Cleveland.  
·Best friends with Gage.  
·Despite the fact that he is human, both he and Lucy share a telepathic ability.

Lucy Ryan-Harris  
·20 years old and also from Alaska.  
·She is the polar opposite of her twin brother, Nolan.  
·Even though she knows how to fight, she could most often be found creating and building the latest demon-killing weapons.

Others

Andrew Wells:  
·26 years old.  
·He has spent fours of the last 5 years, touring the world with Vi, Rona, Faith and Robin.  
·He is about to begin his second year of Watcher's training.

Spike:  
·After his "death" in the collapse of Sunnydale, he was sent to both Heaven and Hell. Neither were willing to accept him, therefore he was sent back to earth in the way in which he left it, as a vampire with a soul.  
·For four years, he roamed the earth in his attempt to get over Buffy, until one night when in Scotland, he ran into Willow.

Tara MacLay:  
·Died at the age of 23, a year before the collapse of Sunnydale.

Dawn Summers:  
·21 years old.  
·In training to be a watcher.  
·She lives with Buffy, Giles, Andrew and around 20 slayers.

Rupert Giles:  
·56 years old.  
·Now the head of the watcher's council.  
·He remains Buffy's watcher, as well as trains new watchers.

Prologue

_The moon was almost full, low, shining bright in a sky black as pitch. There were hardly any clouds. Or at least, none that Buffy could see, save for those highlighted slightly by moonlight. There were stars too but the night sky was the last thing on the slayer's mind as she ran through the cemetery. Head stones jutted from the frozen ground, glistening under a fine layer of snow and ice. Silhouettes of gnarled trees without leaves loomed against the old stone walls of the cemetery. As Buffy vaulted over a small marble angel, she slipped on a patch of ice but fortunately she was able to catch her footing at the last minute. She knew that she couldn't waste any time, one second could be the difference between life and death. _

_It was through sheer determination that Buffy stayed upright as she charged from one end of the cemetery to the other, her lungs burning as the freezing air tore down her throat. 'I have to keep going.' She thought to herself as she kept her eyes fixed straight ahead, locked not on the group of vampires but on Kennedy. It was clear to Buffy that the young slayer was fighting a losing battle and that her strength was fading fast. She stood surrounded by four vampires, each of them twice as large, strong and deadly as her. _

_Kennedy yelped as the first vampire whose heart she aimed for, intercepted her lunge. He caught her wrist and twisted, a loud snap announcing the break seconds before her pained scream filled the air. Buffy couldn't stand to watch as her second-in-command fell to her knees at the vampire's mercy. Her slayer instincts told her that something bad was about to happen but yet Buffy continued to push forward, knowing that she was Kennedy's only hope. _

_The vampires seized the opportunity of a wounded slayer. Kennedy struggled, screaming and sobbing, as the vampires pinned her to the ground. And despite her cries, the vampires' gleeful snarls were the only thing that Buffy heard as she watched them sink their fangs into her fellow slayer's flesh, tearing at the veins in her arms and neck._

_"No!" Buffy yelled as she threw herself at the feeding vampires, hoping to distract them before they managed to kill Kennedy. Blood, hot and sticky, sprayed her face, however it was the least of her worries, her eyes falling on Kennedy's still body. Too still. Her chest didn't rise or fall and her eyes, wide and glazed, appeared to look straight through her. _

_Blood continued to leak from the bites left by the now dazed vampires. Their attention was now on Buffy as they each began to regain their footing. Her anguish turned to hate and rage as Kennedy's life trickled down their chins, adding to their vile appearance. Buffy knew that she had to avenge the young slayer's death, a death that she was partially responsible for._

_Through her rage, Buffy knew she needed to climb to her feet, as laying on the ground left her prone to attack. A swift crack to the face of the largest vampire she crouched over, left him stunned, allowing the slayer to spring to her feet without him halting her. She instantly adopted a fighting stance, stake gripped in her right hand. It took mere seconds for the remaining three vampires to realize that they had another slayer on their hands. Their sickly yellow eyes glowed in the dark night and their fangs gleamed, wet with blood and saliva. Buffy easily dodged to one side, kicking one of the vampires in the kidney as all three pounced, arms outstretched in an attempt to bring her down._

_The mix of snow, blood and loosened mud melted into slush, making the fighting more difficult. Another powerful kick from Buffy, this time to the gut of another vampire, sent him flying back. His hulking form smashed into a headstone, sending pieces of marble and white stone flying into the air. The other vampires hung back and started to circle as the first vampire picked himself up from the snow and turned to her. _

_Buffy knew that vampires weren't ones for fair fighting and that the odds were stacked greatly in their favor. Her mind worked in hyper speed to find a suitable solution to fighting them, knowing that they would likely continue in their attempt to rush her as one. She needed to scatter them and fight each of them separately. Her eyes quickly examined her surroundings in search for anything that she could use. 'Tombstones and trees. Tombstones, trees and icy ground. Tombstones, trees, icy ground and fire?'_

_The slayer's jaw dropped as blistering heat and a loud roar swept across to the vampires, from behind a large tombstone on her right. Her attention was drawn back to the vampires as they began to scream, the searing heat from the flames ate into their clothes and skin. Before any of them could dive into the little snow piled against the graves, the flames engulfed them. Within seconds, the only thing remaining where four individual piles of ash._

_The sound of ice breaking beneath someone's foot reminded Buffy that she no longer was the only one in the cemetery; no longer the only person in the cemetery, alive. She turned to see yet another one of her second-generation slayers rise from behind a tombstone, holding a long pipe with a tiny flame dancing at the end, a thick length of rubber tube connecting the pipe to a small gas tank strapped to her back. "You okay?" April asked her as she continued to approach the slayer. _

_Still unsure as to what exactly had just happened, Buffy stepped between April's view of Kennedy. It was apparent to her that the newest slayer hadn't yet seen the gruesome murder. "I need you to go get Willow." Buffy ordered, knowing that she needed to protect April from seeing her mentor's lifeless body._

_But instead of moving, April's jaw dropped as something behind Buffy caught her attention. Slowly, Buffy turned around, not knowing what waited behind her. _

"_Why don't we let the newbie have a shot at killing a vampire the old fashioned way?" Kennedy sneered, her pretty face changing smoothly into that a vampire's, eyes glowing yellow in the gloom._

_"April?" Buffy stern voice brought the young slayer's attention back to her. "Go get Willow now!" She ordered, never taking her eyes off of Kennedy. For a brief moment, it appeared to her that April was hesitating in her decision to leave. But Buffy figured that the young slayer knew enough to not question her. The 17 years old brunette nodded as she turned and dashed away. _

_"She couldn't have beaten me anyways." She smirked, rocking from foot to foot as her boots crunched loudly in the snow. "But you probably want to try and dust me yourself. I don't think that you can do it, not if you want to keep Willow from going over the deep end again. But maybe she'll let me turn her, before she destroys the world. I know that you've already met vampire-Willow, tell me, is she hotter as a vampire?" _

"_I'm sorry, Kennedy." The slayer apologized softly, all the while rigid in her fighting stance. 'This is my fault. All my fault.' She thought to herself as she tightened her grip on the wooden stake and raised her hand._

_Kennedy raised a hand to her neck and wiped her fingers through the rapidly cooling blood. Her eyes were on Buffy as she did this, a slight smirk curling the corners of her mouth. It was then that she flew at Buffy with lightning speed. The slayer only just managed to escape harm by twisting out of the way and leaning back when Kennedy's arm lashed out, fingers hooked like claws. The vampire's momentum kept her going a couple of paces before she turned and leaped again. This time Buffy was ready. She knocked aside Kennedy's outstretched arms, and swiftly brought her knee up into the vampire's gut. Kennedy grunted but responded instantly by cracking her head against Buffy's and slamming her fist into the slayer's chest. The sheer power from the punch sent Buffy flying into a tree, the rough bark cutting the back of her head. _

_As Kennedy swung a second time, Buffy ducked under it and stood, placing the knuckles of her weapon hand against Kennedy's shoulder and pushed lightly to over balance her before she shoved her with her other hand. This sent Kennedy sprawling onto the ground. She rolled instantly and rocked back on her shoulders, before throwing her feet forward and bringing herself back up, only to be greeted with a fist to the face. Her head snapped back and blood flowed from her nose. She hissed through her fangs and began to swing wildly at Buffy, who easily dodged and blocked, waiting patiently for the ideal opening. _

_Buffy didn't have to wait long as Kennedy lunged for her throat. The slayer simply side-stepped, grabbing Kennedy's wrist and using the vampire's own force, slammed her onto a tombstone. Her knees struck the icy marble and due to the forward motion, carried her over the top. Buffy was instantly upon the dazed vampire, rolling her onto her back and straddling her waist, pinning the former slayer's arm under her knees as her stake hand rose and her free hand closed over the vampire's throat, holding her down. Kennedy struggled beneath her, snarling and gnashing her fangs. Just as Buffy brought the stake down towards the vampire's chest, Kennedy's face changed back to its human form. For a brief moment, she looked sadly into Buffy's eyes before turning to the side, something else had caught her attention. _

"_No!" Buffy heard Willow's cries the moment that her stake embedded itself deeply into Kennedy's chest. The next couple of minutes seemed to blur itself in Buffy's mind as Willow began to scream in horror, having just witnessed her girlfriend turned to ash. Unable to look her friends in the eye, Buffy stood up, never taking her eyes off of the pile of dust that had only hours ago been her friend, her second-in-command and the one person who had been holding The Scoobies together. But now Kennedy was dead and it was her fault. _

*** End of dream ***

Buffy jerked awake, her body covered in sweat and the sheet sticking to her skin. As she sat up, she realized that she was shaking. She wasn't shaking because of the light cool breeze that drifted in through the open window but due to the nightmare that she had just experienced. Only it wasn't merely a nightmare, it was also a memory. It happened five years ago, on a cold December night, a week before Christmas, only months after they had defeated The First and moved to Cleveland. There was another anniversary that fell on that day, it was also the last time that she had spoken to her friends, Willow and Xander.

Authors' Notes: This fanfic is co-written by Nightwish. Thank you so much for listening to me rant and rave for hours about this story.  
I know that the Prologue mentions pretty much only Buffy but there is a reason that I chose to start with her. Who better to explain Kennedy's death. The next chapter is also primarily Buffy but don't worry that all changes with Chapter 2.  
Please take the time to post a review, letting us know what you think about this new fanfic and whether or not anyone is interested in reading more.


	2. Chapter 1 The song that angels sing

-1Chapter.1

"Paige, get behind. Follow rank." Buffy ordered, instantly stopping the young 15 year old slayer in her tracks.

Paige couldn't believe that Buffy was pulling rank. Even though the slayers worked on a rank basis, it wasn't something that anyone ever mentioned. The ranking system was more of a method that Giles and Buffy used to train the slayers, and organize the various squads by ability.

But now Buffy was preventing her from doing what she did best; play bait. "It's kind of hard for me to play the sweet and innocent act when I'm surrounded by eight fully-armed and really scary-looking slayers."

"Are you an idiot?" April asked. "You just insulted your own damn leader." The 23 year old slayer couldn't believe the brat's attitude.

"No, I didn't. If you actually knew how to count, you'd know that we're ten slayers down here and I only said that eight were scary-looking. That means that I already deducted both myself and Buffy from that equation."

"Girls, stop talking. This is the exact reason why we lost track of these vampires in the first place. I want everyone to stay quiet." Buffy said, looking at each of the other slayers that she had chosen to patrol with her that evening. The majority of them weren't actually the problem, the problem was with two of the three members of her own team. Ever since Paige's arrival at the Slayer House, both she and April had been at each other's throats. There had never been a reason for the conflict, their personalities simply clashed.

Paige was the typical high school cheerleader other than the fact that she was also a slayer. She was a fifteen years old freshman who thrived on the attention she received from others. The young slayer reminded Buffy of a young Cordelia, other than the fact that Buffy had witnessed moments where Cordelia had almost seemed nice. Paige had yet to have one of those moments. But it was Paige's ability to instantly play the part of a sweet innocent young girl, that often assisted her during those nightly patrols. She was considered the perfect bait; young, blond and a cheerleader. It was for that reason and because of her abilities in hand-to-hand combat, that Buffy had chosen her to be a part of her special team. A team that consisted of the slayers that Buffy considered the best in their individual strengths as well as their ability to compliment each others' fighting skills in extremely dangerous situations.

April lived for those dangerous situations that the slayers regularly found themselves in, living on a second Hellmouth. The twenty-three years old slayer was the first one to be trained by Buffy upon her arrival in Cleveland and took her job as Buffy's second-in-command, very seriously. It seemed to be the only thing that April ever took seriously. The rest of the time, she chose to live life in the moment. Not worrying about the next day or next battle against evil. Even though the brunette slayer stood at less than five-feet tall, it didn't stop her from taunting whichever demon she was fighting. The thing that had caught Buffy's attention weren't the random comments that the younger slayer often stated out of nowhere but her perfect aim.

With one slayer well versed in hand-to-hand combat and a second with the ability to use any long-range weapons as an extension of her own body, there was still something missing. The missing piece was the third and final member of Buffy's team, Kerry. Buffy suddenly realized that she hadn't seen Kerry's face among the slayers standing in front of her. She urgently began searching for the young Irish eighteen years old.

"Buffy, what are you looking for?" April asked, she wondered what had Buffy so concerned. Hunting a group of vampires wasn't something that often unnerved the original slayer but April had noticed that something had been bothering their leader, the whole day. April began to wonder if Buffy was sensing the presence of something or rather someone other than the vampires that they were hunting. "Maybe, we should go back to the Watcher's Council. Giles will help us and tomorrow, we can come back tomorrow with more backup. For all we know, those vamps could be trying to lead us to something that we're totally not ready for."

Having paid no real attention to what April said, Buffy turned to her and asked. "Where is Kerry? She's your best friend, you should know where she is. If something happens to her, you'll never forgive yourself and your life will never be the same." As soon as the words left Buffy's mouth, she realized that she had likely over exaggerated. It wasn't as though it would be the first time that Kerry had wandered off, lost in her own world.

_Buffy has definitely lost it. I always knew that it could happen. _April knew that she needed to talk to Buffy but now wasn't the time. Especially when they were surrounded by young slayers who lived to gossip.

A part of April felt sorry for the younger slayers. They never had the opportunity to get to know the real Buffy, the Buffy that she had first met, more than five years before. But unfortunately that Buffy died when Kennedy died and her friends abandoned her. April couldn't imagine losing her best friend, let alone two of them, but it wasn't something that she would ever allow to happen. "I know exactly where Kerry is. She's playing with her Gameboy, you can't see her 'cause she's sitting behind everyone." April jerked her thumb off behind the group and to the right, where one red Converse could be seen poking out from behind the last Slayer. "But she might not hear you because I saw her put her headphones on when Paige started talking."

"_If you guys are done wasting my time, you should check this out_." Paige's voice resonated through their earpieces.

Buffy turned to the direction where Paige had been standing, only moments before. But she wasn't there. "Paige, get back over here." Buffy ordered into her headset, hoping that the young slayer didn't do anything stupid.

"_We have two vamps guarding a door. Don't let your hairs go grey, they can't see me. I'm hiding behind a wall_." Paige answered, ignoring her leader's instructions.

Knowing that the sudden appearance of ten slayers would likely attract attention, Buffy turned to April. "Can I trust you and Kerry to take care of the guards? And tell Paige to stay back, I don't want her fighting until we get passed those doors. Doors don't have guards unless there's something behind them that they don't want us to find."

Eager to fight, April playfully smacked Kerry in the back of the head, gaining the slayer's attention. "Come on, play-time."

Kerry instantly jumped to her feet the moment that she heard the word 'play-time'. "I'm right behind you." She replied, following her best friend.

As they rounded the first corner, Kerry stuck out her arm, blocking April path therefore preventing her from going any further. "Do you see them?" She asked in almost a whisper, motioning towards the two vampires who guarded a large wooden door. The first vampire was rather short and stout while the second one must have stood at around 7 feet tall.

"Yeah. Heads or Tails for the big one?" April offered. She knew that if she and Kerry were to simply attack, both women would have targeted the same vampire, the big one.

"How about I take the big one? You can have the big one, next time." Kerry counter-offered. She enjoyed this game, it was one that they often played. It seemed to be somewhat of a contest between them as to who can think of the most ridiculous form of competition. Just the night before, they had thrown water balloons over the roof of the Slayer House, with the one who hit Giles' car the most often, winning. The prize, the last chocolate chip cookie from the box.

"I've heard that before, like every single time we face a situation like this. We flip." April then began digging into her pockets in search of a coin. "I have nothing, how about you?" She asked after finding only half of a melted chocolate bar.

Kerry had to prevent herself from laughing out loud as the older slayer handed her the chocolate bar. "Yeah, I normally bring money with me when we patrol, just in case we have time to get a little shopping done." She replied, sarcastically.

"I'll take the big one." Paige chimed in, reminding the two older slayers of her presence.

"No, you won't. Buffy told me to tell you to stay back. She doesn't want you fighting until we get passed those doors." April happily announced to the teenage slayer.

Not liking the fact that she was being prevented from doing what she felt she did better than anyone else, other than Buffy, Paige retorted. "And what? Buffy isn't here right now, are you going to stop me?"

"If she doesn't, I will. We listen to Buffy for a reason, she has a lot more experience with this kind of thing. Your six months of experience doesn't even compare to her 13 years. " Kerry interrupted, in any other situation she would have allowed April and Paige to argue on forever but now wasn't the time. If the two slayers were any louder, the vampires would surely hear them. "Buffy probably took away your opportunity to fight them because you didn't listen when she told you to stop moving forward without her. Do you realize that if you continue to disobey her, she can put you under house-arrest? So, unless you want that to happen, stay here." She finished, adding a firm tone to her voice. Kerry then turned her attention to April when she realized that April was already in the process of fighting both vampires. Dropping the melted chocolate bar, Kerry took off towards her friend. She knew that although April would never admit it, she needed the backup.

Paige was about to join her team members in combat, ignoring both Buffy and Kerry's orders, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Instinctively, she grabbed the arm of whomever or whatever had touched her. As she prepared to use her grip to flip the perpetrator onto its back, she was slammed up against the wall. The force of the impact caused Paige to close her eyes and when she reopened them, she was face-to-face with Buffy.

"Watch them and learn." Buffy sternly said as she lowered the blond slayer onto her feet.

Paige turned her attention to the two slayers who fought fluidly side-by-side. They fought as one, each one seemed to know exactly what the other was thinking. But Paige didn't see anything special in the way that they fought. She knew that she would have easily been able to take care of both vampires on her own, she didn't need someone to help her. Paige began looking around at the other slayers, the ones who had their regular nightly patrols with their usual teams of same six slayers. Each and every other new slayer, there, had their eyes locked on the two slayers in the midst of combat. The sudden sound of Buffy's laughter made Paige curious, she turned her attention back April and Kerry.

"You really suck at this killing a slayer-thing. Good thing that it isn't your day job. Or should I say night job because don't you sleep during the day?" April taunted the large vampire. He had already managed to get in a few good punches and she knew that she would likely end up with a black eye, but the journey only made the destination worth it. April thought that she had the perfect opening to stake the vampire as it slowly made its way towards her in an attempt to corner her between the door and the stone walls of the room. She was about to make her move when the vampire suddenly disappeared into a pile of ash.

Standing on the other side of where the vampire stood, only moments ago, was Kerry. "You talk too much." She stated with a smile on her face.

"And you just staked my vampire."

Before replying, Kerry quickly ducked as the short remaining vampire swung at her from behind. She proceeded by sticking out her foot, sweeping it under the vampire, therefore tripping it. As the vampire fell to the ground, Kerry didn't waste any time in jumping to her feet. Before the vampire could realize what had just happened, Kerry kicked it in the head, knocking it out. "I never agreed that he was yours. You just tired him out for me." She finally countered, pressing her foot down on its throat to prevent it from getting up, should it decide to regain consciousness.

Buffy watched in envy as the two slayers joked around in the midst of slaying two vampires. It was a game to them. They had the luxury of knowing that they could have a little fun with it, that there would always at least one other person there to help them, should they need it. Buffy hadn't had that opportunity, not before she moved to Sunnydale. Even then, with Xander and Willow's help, Buffy had always felt the need to protect them. The ideal of losing her best friends in a never-ending and deadly battle to which she introduced them, was more than she could handled. Except it was that need to protect them which lead her to lose them, anyways.

The sound of laughter and screams, coming from the other side of the door began to make Buffy nervous. She had no idea what awaited them on the other side. It could be a dozen vampires torturing innocent victims or one of hundreds of other things. Each possibility became more and more graphic in her mind as she thought about it. Although April's plan to go back and later return, better prepared, was now looked as though it would have been the better idea, Buffy knew that it was too late to walk away now, not when there could be innocent people on the other side.

Kerry turned to look to Buffy, for further instructions when she suddenly felt her foot go through what used to be a vampire. Other than the large pile of ash that she now found herself standing in, there was also a long pink wooden arrow at her feet. She swung around to find her best friend standing there, bow in hand.

"You take mine, I take yours." April laughed as she placed her bow back over her shoulder. She enjoyed the constant competition between the two of them. There was nothing malicious about it, everything they did together was purely in fun. Everything from slaying to having bathroom duty in a home of thirty-eight people, thirty-six of them being women was turned into a contest.

April had long expected to get tired of the slayer, five years her junior, but that moment had yet to arrive. A part of her, fully believed that if anything were to ever happen to Kerry, she would never be able to live with herself. They shared everything. _Almost everything._ April thought to herself. She knew eventually she would have to tell Kerry her secret but that also meant telling Buffy and April knew that Buffy wouldn't be pleased.

"And the Duo of Doom strike again." Buffy heard someone cheer, from behind. Instantly, she knew who it was.

"Andrew! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be back at the house with Dawn, Giles and the other slayers." She couldn't believe it. Andrew must have followed them and his reason for doing so was clear, as he carried his video camera in hand. Knowing that Andrew's presence wasn't likely only his idea, Buffy turned towards Paige. "You put him up to this, didn't you?"

"I didn't force him to do anything." Paige replied in a nonchalant manner.

Buffy couldn't believe that it didn't even faze Paige that she had placed Andrew in danger. Although Andrew was being trained as a watcher, he was still as defenseless as a small child. It would only take one new and inexperienced vampire and he would be lunchmeat. "Andrew, go back to the house. Or why don't you go see Giles. He'll find something for you to do."

"The nerd will be in more danger if you send him back by himself. Knowing him, he'd probably get his butt whipped by some 2 foot toothless demon. At least with him here, we can protect his sorry ass." April explained to Buffy as she and Kerry made their way back to the others. Andrew wasn't April's favorite person, she often found herself snapping at him, but he was a watcher. And with the worldwide slayer to watcher ratio currently being 750 slayers to every watcher, they needed every watcher or watcher-in-training that they had. Despite how annoying they were. "But if I catch you looking at me with that stupid video camera, I'll shove..." She began warning Andrew.

"Buffy, can we find out what's waiting for us behind those doors before April finds yet another synonym for the word 'ass'?" Kerry interrupted as she continued to restrain herself from simply leaving the others to their discussion and finding out what awaited them behind the large wooden doors. _If I don't stop them from talking now, they'll go on forever and I'll never see any action. I just hope that Buffy doesn't go into one of her speeches, then we'll be here forever. _

As a slayer for the last 13 years, Buffy had learned to sense danger when it was near. And now that there were no longer any sounds coming from beyond those doors, she knew that it couldn't be good. Instead of answering Kerry, Buffy darted towards the doors.

Buffy had fully expected to find dozen of vampires or maybe worse. Except as she entered the room, she found that it was empty. The only proof that there had once been the presence of vampires were the many piles of ash that seemed to be spaced out every few feet. By the number of piles, it was evident to Buffy that there had been a lot more than simply a dozen vampires awaiting them, behind the doors. Although Buffy was relieved that they no longer needed to kill the vampires, the situation still unnerved her. She knew that chances were that whoever or whatever killed those vampires, was still in the room.

"Girls, spread out. I want this room searched from top to bottom." Buffy ordered. "If you find something, kill it." But just as Buffy turned to search behind the large stone wall, everything went dark.

*** --- ***

"Whoops." Was the only thing that Nolan said when he realized what he had done. He had knock out a slayer but not just any slayer, The Slayer.

For the last four years, the number one rule had always been that under no circumstances was The Slayer to ever find out about Cleveland's local demon hunters. Even if one of them used to be her best friend. Nolan didn't understand why Xander and Gage, as co-leaders of the demon hunters, wanted to keep this fact from her but he knew that it wasn't his place to question them.

When his parents were killed during a family trip to Cleveland, it was Xander and Gage who took him and his twin sister, Lucy, into the hunter family and taught them how to kill the very things that had taken his parents' lives. Even though Gage hadn't yet found the demon responsible for their deaths, it didn't stop him from killing every demon until he found it.

"Hunter, what the hell did you do? You killed Buffy." Kerry accused. She couldn't believe that a hunter had hit Buffy. She had always known that there was a reason she didn't like them. Kerry also didn't understand why it was necessary for them to keep the presence of hunters from Buffy. She felt as though she and the other slayers were covering up for the hunters, who in her opinion, shouldn't be putting their lives in danger.

Hunters were ordinary people who had chosen to take it upon themselves to hunt and kill any demon they found. Due to their lack of slayer strength and abilities, they depended solely on the use of their weapons and good luck. Although Kerry had been tempted to divulge their presence to Buffy, the sisterhood between the new generation of slayers was far more important to her and when April and a couple of other slayers had asked her not to, she listened. A few of the slayers even had family members who had joined the hunters but that still didn't explain why her own best friend and the slayer that Buffy trusted the most, April, would want to protect them.

"I panicked. And I didn't kill her; I only knocked her out." Nolan attempted to explain. He never had the intention to hit Buffy with the shovel but it was the only thing that he had in hand when she approached him, other than his knife and he figured that a shovel was somewhat less lethal. "She was about to see me, I had to do something."

"Nolan, did you really have to hit her though? Couldn't you have just ran when you saw us?" April asked, entering into the conversation. She had witnessed the whole thing; she even knew that it was going to happen the moment she had seen Buffy turn the corner.

"How do you know his name?" Lucy asked as she stepped in front of her twin brother. Even though she was only twenty years old, she had long learned how to tell when someone was keeping something from her. And it was obvious to her that this slayer was nervous about something.

"I remember it from... from the last time that we ran into each other during patrol." April couldn't believe that she had made such a stupid mistake. She wasn't supposed to know who he was, just as he didn't know who she was. Unfortunately, quite a few slayers believed that they were superior over hunters when it came to killing demons but April admired them. As a slayer, the sole reason for your existence is to kill demons where as the hunters had each voluntarily made the decision to put their lives on the line, on a daily basis, in an attempt to a dent in the evil that currently lived on Cleveland's Hellmouth. "Anyways, it doesn't matter. What are you guys doing here?" She quickly asked, hoping to change the subject.

It was evident to Nolan that something was strange about the slayer but as a hunter, his job in the underground room was done. The vampires were now dust and no one had gotten hurt which meant that it was time to leave. For a brief moment, Nolan contemplated not telling Xander about his run-in with Buffy until he realized that there was one small problem with that plan, Lucy. Nolan knew that the minute they returned to Hunter Central, Lucy would rat him out.

Something drew Nolan's attention towards his sister. It was clear to him that she was losing her patience with the slayers as she began to grip the handle of the knife hidden in her back pocket. _Maybe I should answer the slayer now, before Lucy does something that will really piss Xander off. _Nolan walked up behind his sister and gently rested his hand on her shoulder. "I think that my sister and these hunters will agree with me that you're not supposed to be in this part of the city tonight. We get slayer clearance for the North end, we hit it up."

Kerry couldn't believe the hunter's arrogance. He seemed to believe that he had it all and that he was somehow better at the demon-killing thing than she was. This pissed her off, it were times like these that she wished that she were more upfront like April. When April felt as though she had something to say, she said it. Whereas Kerry often bottled up her emotions, knowing that it was expected from her. She also felt as though the others expected her to be peacekeeper, the best friend and a slayer. _Yeah, those things don't conflict. _She thought to herself. _That's why I love videogames. You have a mission, surpass multiple levels to achieve the goal. There is no emotion involved and if you die, you just come back and start over again. But this is real life and people die, slayer and hunters alike. _

*** --- ***

The light was so blinding that it took a couple of minutes before Buffy could open her eyes. When her eyes adjusted to the light in the room, Buffy found herself alone in a small white room. Inside of the room, sat only a small white bed, covered in white sheet. Suddenly Buffy realized that there wasn't a door in the room, there were four white walls but each wall had only a small window. _Where am I? _

"You're in The Middle." A man dressed in white, said as he walk into the room through the wall.

"In the middle of what?" Buffy was confused, confused and scared. Her fear continued to grow as the man silently walked over to the window, closest to the bed where she remained seated. Slowly, Buffy edged herself to the opposing side of the bed, away from the strange man. "And who are you?"

"My name is Raphael and you're simply in The Middle." He quietly answered as he continued to stare out of the window. "The darkness is returning. You'll have to work fast."

Something inside of Buffy urged her to look out of the window, herself. The view from the window was amazing, it was simply the most beautiful green field that she had ever seen. It seemed to go on for miles under a light blue sky. Suddenly Buffy noticed that a few dark clouds began to form in the horizon. "What's coming?" She asked.

"It isn't what but who. The First is returning. In order to have any chance of defeating it, you will need the help of everyone who played a major role in the first fight. You will also need the help of a powerful witch, one who's power is rooted in pure white magic. She has since passed onto the next world but the love of one who's power is rooted in darkness and death, can bring her back." Raphael warned as he turned his attention back to Buffy.

As she felt his eyes on her, Buffy turned to meet his stare. She didn't know what she had expected to see but she didn't expect what she saw. His eyes were jet black and he now bore large black wings that reached from one end of the room to the other. Normally, this would have terrified her but his words were still ringing in her head. _The First is returning... You'll need the help of everyone who played a major role in the first fight. _ Both thoughts scared her more than anything she had ever faced. She had barely survived The First when she faced it in Sunnydale and that was of course thanks to the help of her friends. Now, she no longer had the luxury of looking to Willow and Xander for help. "There has to be another way. Someway that I can finally make The First disappear for good, but that I can do it on my own?"

"They are your true strength. This time, it isn't about you. You are not The First's main target but it is up to you to guide that person through the war. Close your eyes and count down from ten, it's time for you to go back. You have a lot of work ahead of you. For this time, The First is back for power." He replied as he made his way to the opposite side of the room.

Before Buffy could ask him one of the many questions that raced through her mind, Raphael simply walked back through the wall, where he had entered._ How am I supposed to do this? I don't even know how to find Willow and Xander. _As Buffy sat back down on the bed, she instantly remembered what awaited her back in the underground room, the young slayers. _I have to get back to them. Whatever hit me might be after them. _Buffy then quickly closed her eyes and began counting down from ten, hoping that she wasn't too late. "Ten...Nine...Eight...."

*** --- ***

As her brother spoke, Lucy continued to watch The Slayer as she remained unconscious. _She's pretty._ She thought to herself. _I wonder if Xander ever had feelings for her. _ Ever since the day that Lucy first met Xander, she had heard stories about his adventures with The Slayer. But Lucy had never seen her before, she hadn't even seen a picture. Just as Lucy was about to turn her attention back to the argument in front of her, she noticed that Buffy was beginning to move. "Hunters, out now." She ordered, sensing that The Slayer was about to awake at any moment and that they needed to leave before she did.

Kerry was happy that Buffy would likely be alright but she didn't like the idea of the hunters getting away with it. "Where are you going? What are we supposed to tell Buffy?"

Nolan was about to turn around and respond but April did it for him. "I'll take care of it. Go." April offered the hunter, knowing that if the hunters didn't leave at that exact moment, the truth would be exposed.

Lucy turned back to April, she didn't know why the slayer seemed to be on their side, but she appreciated it. "Thank you." She said to April before turning back to the hunters. "Move out, Hunters."

Kerry couldn't believe it; her own best friend was protecting the hunters, yet again. It didn't take long for all of the hunters to be gone, there had only been a dozen of them. But now that they had left and thanks to April's offer, it was left to the slayers to come up with an explanation as to what happened to Buffy. "Why did you do that?" She asked April.

"Do what?" Buffy asked as she opened her eyes. Realizing that she was laying on the ground, surrounded by her young slayers, Buffy quickly jumped to her feet. A decision that she instantly regretted as she instantly became dizzy. Luckily, April caught her arm, slowly lowering Buffy back onto the floor. "What happened?"

"What happened? Well... Paige hit you with her… with that shovel over there." April quickly responded before anyone could let their little encounter with the hunters, slip.

Paige couldn't believe that April was blaming her. She hated how the older slayer always seemed to place the blame on her when she was trying to hide something. And it wasn't as though she could argue with April, she was Buffy's second-in-command. _It must be nice to be able to lie to Buffy and know that whatever you say, she'll believe. _It took all of Paige's determination in order to not argue her case but the look on April's face told her that she is didn't go along with the lie, she would be made to regret it. "I panicked. I thought that you were one of the vampires, one that might have survived."

Buffy slowly made her way back onto her feet, her head was pounding from the blow that she had apparently received from the youngest slayer. "Paige, how many times have I told you to identify what you're attacking before you do it? You could have killed me."

"Buffy, are you okay?" April asked, knowing that if Buffy continued to lecture Paige, the young slayer would likely snap and therefore expose the truth about what had really happened in the cave.

"I'm fine." Buffy lied. She wasn't fine though, she was terrified. Not only for her life but for the lives of every single one of the new slayers. If The First returned it meant that innocent lives would be lost and the people that she vowed to protect would be in danger. _You are not The First's main target._ The thought caused Buffy to wonder if The First's new target could possibly be one of her slayers. _It can choose any one of them. But if it doesn't come after any of the slayers that could only mean that it's coming after anyone. Anyone like Dawn, Giles, Xander or… even Willow. Raphael did mention a witch in his riddled warning. But actually he had mentioned two witches, one who's power is rooted in darkness and the other who's power is rooted in pure white magic. I have to get to Giles. I'll figure out what happened to all of these vamps, tomorrow. Right now, I need to tell him about The First._

"We need to get out of here. I want everyone to go back to the house, right now." Buffy ordered. If The First was truly back, she had no idea what types of new demons that it would unleash this time around. And she didn't want to put the next generation of slayers' lives on the line. That was until it was truly necessary.

Buffy turned her attention to April, as the slayers began to file of out the underground room. "Ape, make sure that no one goes off on their own. I have to go see Giles. I'm not to sure how long I'll be at the Watcher's Council for, so I need you to take charge back at the house. Think you can handle it?"

"Aye Aye, Captain." April laughed, she was relieved that Buffy no longer seemed concerned about that night's events but something told her that Buffy was worried, worried about something else. "Are you sure that you're okay?" April asked, concerned about the older slayer.

Buffy smiled at April's concern, in hopes of reassuring her. Buffy hated lying to her, April had always been there for her, especially after everything that had happened with Willow and Xander. But Buffy didn't want to worry the slayer until she was sure about what they faced. "Everything's fine. I just need to talk to Giles."

April knew that Buffy was surely hiding something from her but it wasn't as if that were something new. She also knew that if it was something truly serious, Buffy would tell her when she felt as though the time was right. There was no one that April trusted more than Buffy. Even the trust that she had in Kerry didn't compare. "Okay, do what you need to do. I can get these girls back to the house." Turning to the slayers, April ordered. "Girls, let get out of here. Ice cream, back at the house." She knew that the bribe of food, especially sweets, always made the slayers move a little faster. "See you back at the house, Buff." She called as she followed the slayers out of the room, leaving Buffy behind.

*** --- ***

Once April was sure that all of the slayers were walking ahead of her, she pulled Kerry to the side. "Can you take over with them? I have to go get that ice cream that I promised." She asked as they walked side-by-side.

"We have some back at the house." Kerry replied.

"I know but I'm craving Rocky Road ice-cream and I know for a fact that we don't have any at the house. If you do this for me, I'll share some with you. I'll just sneak it into our room, when everyone else has gone to sleep. Please? I'll love you forever." April took a deep breath as she waited for Kerry to reply. She felt as if the wall of lies that she had been building for the last three years, was about to come crumbling down around her and she needed to talk to someone about it before it happened. Someone who wasn't Kerry. April knew that once the truth was exposed, Kerry would be mad at her. And April couldn't blame her, they were best friends and had normally shared everything. _Well, almost everything. _

"You don't have to beg. I'll do it but you owe me big-time. And you had better love me forever, I've saved your ass so many times that it isn't funny anymore." Kerry laughed. She wasn't looking forward to being around that many young slayers, alone, for the walk back to the slayer house but fortunately, they weren't that far from it. And she knew that once they got back to the house, she could easily pass the responsibility onto either Dawn or Andrew. Leaving her the ability to find out why April was shaking off her duty, yet again.

"Thanks. And for that last comment, I'll kick your ass when I get back." April replied as she turned and began running in the opposite direction. _He had better be there. _ She thought to herself.

*** --- ***

_You will need the help of everyone who played a major role in the first fight. _Out of everything Raphael had told her, those were the words that kept repeating themselves in Buffy's head. She couldn't help but laugh at the situation. The warning stated that she needed the help of a combination of people who were either no longer alive or who no longer wish to speak to her. But Buffy knew that she couldn't blame Willow and Xander for leaving. She said things, she believed things that just weren't right. But unfortunately too much time had past before Buffy had made those realizations.

Now she needed their help but she had no idea where they were or even if they were still alive. The last time that Buffy had spoken to either Willow or Xander was the night that Kennedy died. That night, they had had an argument and many things were said, things said in despair, anger and blame. _And most of those things came from me._ Buffy thought to herself. _I don't deserve their forgiveness. I was wrong and it's my fault that Kennedy's died. _That train of thought lead Buffy to think about the nightmare that she had the night before, or rather the memory of events proceeding Kennedy's death.

*** _flashback***_

_"No!" Buffy heard Willow's cries the moment that her stake embedded itself deeply into Kennedy's chest. _

_"What did you do?" Xander asked as he stood frozen in front of her. _

_Buffy couldn't wrap her mind around what had just happened. She just staked Kennedy. Merely two hours before, both she and Kennedy were putting together the finishing touches for Kennedy's proposal to Willow. She had planned to do it after she had finished patrolling but now Kennedy was vampire ash. And it was her fault. If she had only allowed Gage to go on patrol with her or even if she had chosen to patrol with Kennedy, herself, Kennedy would still be alive. "I had to." _

_"Willow?" Her concern for the witch was the first clear thought that past through Buffy's mind. She remembered how Tara's death had affected her best friend and suddenly feared that they may now have a repeat episode on their hands. She quickly stood up, paying no attention to the ash that covered her, and turned to look for Willow. Buffy's eyes were suddenly drawn to the dark red barrier of electricity that stood behind Xander. _

_Its sudden appearance must have scared Xander and the others around him because they all jumped, leaving Buffy with a clear view of the dome-like barrier. The source of the barrier sat within it, Willow. Inside, she sat cross-legged, rocking back and forth, her eyes averted to the ground. Buffy could have also sworn that amidst the sound of the wind as it circled the barrier, she could hear Willow's voice. She seemed to be repeating the same thing over and over again. "EGO mos non perdo imperium." _

_Slowly, Buffy began walking towards Willow. The closer she became, the more pain she felt. Not only was it a physical pain but a heavy emotional one as well. It didn't take long before Buffy realized that the pain she was feeling was actually Willow's._

_"Buffy, do not touch her. I've already lost one friend tonight. I don't want to lose another. How about you take the new slayers and leave? I'll take care of Willow." Xander explained. _

_"I'm not going anywhere without Willow." Buffy argued as she stepped away from Xander, never taking her eyes off of her best friend. "I'm the slayer and Willow is now my responsibility." Buffy took a step closer to the redheaded witch entombed within her own powers. _

_The words that Willow were repeating began to grow louder and louder. "EGO mos non perdo imperium! EGO mos non perdo imperium!" Suddenly Willow's head shot back. For the brief moment that their eyes met, Buffy realized that Willow's hair and eyes had both turned black. 'Leave Now!' Buffy heard Willow's voice order, in her mind. _

_"I am not going anywhere, Willow. We can survive this, we can do this together." Buffy began to beg. She didn't want to lose her friend, not in this way. _

_"No!" Willow yelled aloud, everyone quickly covered their ears, protecting them from the witch's high pitched scream. Out of nowhere, a bolt of lighting came shooting from the sky, almost hitting Buffy. The force of the impact threw Buffy back approximately ten feet. _

_"Buffy, you're the last person that Willow wants to see, right now. This time, it's your fault that the person that she loves, died. If you would just have let Gage go with her, we probably wouldn't be in this position." _

_As Buffy made her way back onto her feet, Xander approached her. "I think that you should take the new girls and leave. They don't need to see this. It's probably hard enough for them, having just watched you stake their friend… And maybe if you leave, Willow will be able to calm her powers."_

_"I did what I had to do. They turned her into a vampire and I couldn't let that happen. Kennedy wouldn't have wanted to be one of them." Buffy countered. _

_But before Xander could answer, lightning bolts began to rain from the sky. And in the midst of a Cleveland winter, lightning wasn't normal, especially that much lighting. The bolts seemed to be aimed at each of the new slayers, not close enough to hurt them, just scare them… them and Buffy. _

_Willow was sending a message and Buffy was receiving it clearly. 'I have to get the girls out of here, now.' Buffy understood Willow's anger towards her; she even blamed herself for Kennedy's death. But Kennedy was a slayer and she knew the chances that she was taking. _

_"Xander, I'll take them back. But I'll be back." She stated as she began walking away from Xander and Willow, who was still entombed within her powers. No words were needed as all the slayers followed Buffy, silently, towards the exit of the cemetery. _

_Just before Buffy left, she took one last look back. The lightning had ceased and Xander was now seated in front of Willow. _

*** _flashback finished ***_

That was the last time that Buffy had seen either Willow or Xander. Later that night, Giles had found her and explained that Willow was returning to the coven in England and that Xander would also be leaving the Slayer School and Watcher's Council.

For a long time, Buffy blamed Kennedy's death on the young slayer's inability to fight on her own. At the time, Buffy felt as though Kennedy had become too dependant on Gage, who was just a normal person with no extraordinary abilities, when it came to patrolling. Which was exactly the reason why Buffy had sent Kennedy to patrol on her own, that night.

The idea of more people without the ability to properly defend themselves, helping in the fight against evil and all of its demons, getting hurt or worse was the reasoning behind The Slayer's discrimination against Gage. He called himself a demon hunter and often stated that he wanted to find other people who wanted to join the fight, and train them. That idea had scared Buffy, she felt as though she already had her hands full, protecting The Scoobies along with the new slayers that had been arriving, she didn't have the time or energy to also protect a group of rogue hunters.

Now with the return of The First, the use of the hunters might have come in handy. _If I would have just let Gage help, maybe Kennedy would still be alive and I would still have my best friends. _Buffy's thoughts changed back to the return of The First as she walked into the new Watcher's Council.

To the ordinary person, 420 Queen Street looked like any other occult shop but that was far from true. The main floor was in fact an occult store; one similar to The Magic Box but that is where the normalcy ended. The basement had been turned into a series of training rooms, while the upper floor was the headquarters for the Watcher's Council.

"Buffy, I've been expecting you." Giles stated as Buffy walked into his office.

"But how?" She asked.

"April called and told me." Giles answered as he motioned for Buffy to take a seat across from him. The young slayer had called him only moments ago, to warn him that Buffy was on her way to see him. She had also informed him about the night's events and the slayers' encounter with the demon hunters. "Are you alright? April told me that you'd been hit unconscious with a shovel."

Buffy couldn't believe that April had called Giles, though it didn't shock her. She knew that the young slayer was concerned for her and that warmed the older slayer's heart. "I'm fine. I have a bit of a headache but at least the pain proves that I'm still alive and not dreaming, which is actually the reason that I'm here. When I was unconscious, I found myself waking up in this white room and I mean this room was white, everything just white. Then this guy walked in through the wall because there wasn't a door in this room. Did I mention that there hadn't been a door?"

Buffy's ramblings told Giles that she was concerned about something. And from past experience, Giles knew that it had to be something pretty serious. "Buffy, are you sure that everything is alright?"

"The First is back, or coming back. I don't know which one yet." Buffy blurted out. Saying the words aloud made all that much more real to her. She would have to face The First again. It had almost destroyed them, the first time that they had gone to war against each other. But fortunately Buffy, the Scoobies and a few of the new slayers had survived, even if their beloved city didn't. That day, they lost Anya, Spike and 28 of the 35 potentials turned slayers.

Currently, there were only three of the original potential slayers left alive and they weren't even in the country. After Kennedy's death, Vi, Rona and Cho-Ann packed their things and moved to Europe, to fight and search for new slayers alongside Faith and Robin.

Giles was thankful for the fact that he was sitting. The return of The First was the last thing that he had expected to hear. He had always known that it was possible but he had hoped that if it did occur, it would the responsibility of the next generation or the one proceeding that. "This man told you that The First was to return? Did he say why? Tell me exactly what he told you."

"Alright, his name is Raphael..."Buffy began recounting her encounter with the mysterious man.

*** --- ***

_I am slowly going crazy…1,2,3,4,5,6…Switch! _Kerry kept singing to herself as she followed the other slayers into the Slayer House, in an attempt to drown out the voices of the young slayers who were excited about the night's events. The appearance of the hunters always seemed to turn the majority of the young slayers into giggling and blushing girls, and this time wasn't any different.

"Isn't that Nolan-guy hot?"

"I think that he was flirting with me?"

"Personally, I think that the other guy, Gage, is so much hotter."

Kerry simply wanted to snap. Sure, Nolan was very good-looking but his cocky attitude proved that he knew it. And to Kerry, that was the most unattractive thing in the world.

"How did tonight go?" Dawn asked as she welcomed their return. Every night, at exactly 1am, she sat down on the bottom step and drank her hot chocolate as she waited for the slayers on patrol, to return. But something was different. Both Buffy and April were missing, and the new slayers seemed to all be on some sort of sugar rush. "Wait. Where is Buffy and April?"

"Buffy went to see Giles and April went for ice cream." Kerry answered as it was clear to her that none of the other slayers were going to answer Dawn as they had already moved the party onto the upper floors of the house. "We ran into hunters." She admitted before realizing what she had just said. Kerry didn't know why but something about the young watcher gave her reason to trust her and in more than just the slayer to watcher way.

Dawn was shocked, she hadn't excepted to hear that. _Slayer and Hunters in the same room, that must have been interesting. Oh my God! Buffy knows. _The twenty-one year old watcher then realized that that must have been the reason that Buffy was now at the Watcher's Council, talking to Giles. "How did Buffy react?"

Kerry couldn't help but let out a short uncomfortable laugh before replying. "She didn't. One of the hunters, I think that his name is Nolan. Well, he knocked your sister out with a shovel but they left before Buffy woke up."

"Is she alright? I mean, she has to be if she's with Giles, right?" Dawn couldn't believe that Nolan had actually hit Buffy, with a shovel. Not that his use of a shovel was of any shock to her, it had been the hunter's favorite weapon for the last couple of years. The end of the handle had been sharpened into a large stake with silver-plated pointed head. Dawn knew the weapon intimately, Nolan had trained her with it. Actually, all of the hunters had taken the time to train her with their favorite weapons.

The hunters had a different opinion on what mattered when it came to being a watcher. They felt as though it was important that Dawn know how to use every type of weapon as well know how to fight. This was where they differed from Buffy and the new generation of slayers. If Dawn would have allowed Buffy to have it her way, Dawn would be a watcher in title only. Her sister had made it clear for as long as Dawn could remember, that she would rather Dawn stick to research instead of fighting on the front lines. _But Buffy doesn't decide my life. I do. _

Kerry eyed Dawn, curiously. The Slayer's little sister seemed to have gotten lost amidst her own thoughts. "Buffy seemed okay. Something was a little off about her but I think that that can be forgiven, given her head did make contact with metal." _But something is definitely off with April and I need to find out why. _Kerry's worry for her best friend continued to grow as various scenarios began playing in her mind. Not for one minute did Kerry actually believe that April had simply gone out for ice cream.

"Dawn, can you take watch, please? I've just got this bad feeling and I want to see if I can catch up with April." Kerry knew that Dawn wouldn't question her slayer "instincts", even though Kerry was only using them as an excuse to shrug off playing babysitter in order to find out what her best friend was hiding.

Knowing that she needed to get a hold of one of hunters to find out what actually occurred during the night's patrol, Dawn agreed to take over slayer watch. "Sure, but then you get my breakfast duty, tomorrow morning. Deal?" Dawn knew that she would have taken over watching the younger slayers in exchange for nothing but if she could have someone else be responsible for making breakfast for just under 40 people, she wouldn't disagree.

With the next generation of slayers ranging from the age of 26 to 15, the younger ones often required additional supervision while the slayers aged 18 and older were given free reign to do as they pleased, before and after their scheduled patrols. Although, Kerry didn't mind watching the younger slayers, it wasn't something that they appreciated; especially given the fact that she was only 18 years old. But since she was a member of Buffy's special team of slayers, it granted her certain privileges that the others slayers didn't have such as being excused from chores duty. Chores duty was something that Dawn had thought of when the number of new slayers began to grow. Each of the six other teams didn't only patrol together but they also rotated between making the meals and cleaning the common areas.

"I'll do breakfast. I haven't cooked in awhile so it should be interesting." Kerry laughed. "And thanks again for doing this. I'll be back before Buffy gets home." She stated as she grabbed her jacket from the closet and walked back towards the front door.

"You'd better be or Buffy is going to get pissed." Dawn casually warned. Buffy didn't normally allow the younger slayers to leave the house after they finished patrolling but if Kerry's slayer instincts were telling her that something was wrong, Dawn knew that there likely had to be a reason.

Kerry laughed as she walked back out of the Slayer House. _If I get in trouble for this, April is coming down with me. _She thought to herself as she began walking back towards the underground sewers, the last place that she had seen April. _Maybe, she stopped at the Watcher's Council. I should go and check there, first. _

*** --- ***

"That's what he told me then he left. Giles, what are we going to do? He said that I can't do this on my own, that I need the help of everyone who fought with us in the first fight. That can never happen. Both Anya and Spike are gone and it isn't like I can ask Willow and Xander for their help, either." Buffy finished in a somber tone. _I would do anything just for them to speak to me again. _

Giles couldn't believe everything that he had just heard. The First was returning, if it hadn't already. Although that worried Giles, what worried him more was the manner in which The First must be defeated, with a witch. _If my interpretation of the prophecy is correct the dark witch can only be Willow with the light one being Tara. But how will Willow do it? How will she bring Tara back to earth? _Giles had always known that Willow was powerful but even the creation of the new generation of slayers was nothing compared to the magics that she would have to use this time around.

"Giles, are you okay? I know that this is a shock but we can do it, right? Without Willow and Xander's help?" Buffy knew that Giles would likely try to reassure her but in the end, the defeat of The First rested on her shoulders.

_I have to tell her but I know that Buffy will never forgive me. _Giles had contemplated telling Buffy about his involvement in both Willow and Xander's new lives, many times in the last five years. But unfortunately, they still refused to speak to each other and to Buffy. Giles still didn't know exactly had been said between the three friends but he knew that it would have to have been pretty serious for friends that were as close as they were, to decide to end their friendship. Both Xander and Willow had gone as far as to warn him that if he did ever divulge their whereabouts to Buffy, they would no longer conduct their business under the Watcher's Council.

But Giles knew that the return of The First meant a lot more than the promise he made to them, especially when it meant that the hunters and Willow's coven might become targets. "Buffy, there is something that I must tell you. I know that I should have told you a long time ago, but I made promises that I wished to keep. But now, the truth must come out and you need the help of your friends. I have been in almost daily contact with both Willow and Xander since they left."


	3. Chapter 2 The Spell that calls

Authors' Notes

I want to thank the people who took the time to post a review. Both Nightwish and I really appreciate it. Again, I would like to thank my cowriter, Nightwish, for all of her help and the amazing scene.

There is some explicit language, so here is the warning. :) I know that this chapter took a long time to post but I promise that the next one will not as long especially with the Christmas holidays coming up. And I also know that I promise Willow in this chapter but unfortunately, the chapter would have then been way too long so I cut it and moved her into the next chapter.

Again, please take the time to let me know what you think of this fanfic and post a review. Every single one is awesome.

Chapter. 2 - _The Spell that calls The Gathering_

"I've been in almost daily contact with both Willow and Xander since they left."

Buffy felt as though she had just been punched in the stomach. Giles, her watcher and the man that she considered a father to her, had known where her best friends were and yet he had chosen to keep their whereabouts from her. She had spent almost every night for the last five years, wondering where Xander and Willow were and if they were even alive. "How? How can you not have told me?"

The guilt that Giles felt was overwhelming but he knew that in the end, he had made the right decision. In exchange for keeping Buffy in the dark about their whereabouts, Xander and Willow agreed to keep in constant contact with him. Giles had instantly agreed to their terms because like Buffy, he considered them his own children. But now things were different and it was time that the three old friends reunited. "I wasn't given a choice but I do apologize for the secrecy. It wasn't something that I wanted to do and fortunately for us, the fact that I do know where they are, helps us. We'll need everyone together again in order to finally destroy The First."

Buffy still couldn't believe that Giles hadn't told her. She wondered if anyone else knew where Xander and Willow had been. But as much as Buffy wished that she could question Giles about his reasons for lying to her, she knew that now wasn't the time. Now that The First was back, they had no time to waste. She needed her friends and she needed them now. "Why would they want to help us? Me? I don't deserve their help. Giles, I said things that a friend should never say to another friend. I can't take those words back; no matter how much I wish that I could do things over again." Buffy knew that she was beginning to rant but she didn't know what else to do; there was a chance that she could see her friends again and the thought both excited her and terrified her, at the same time.

"They have each been helping in their own ways, this entire time. Only now we need them here to help."

Buffy was confused. She hadn't seen or heard from Willow and Xander in five years and yet Giles was saying that they had been helping her. _I would have known if they were helping even if it was behind the scenes, right? _As much as Buffy wished that she would have known, it didn't surprise her that things had been going on without her knowledge. Ever since Spike died in the collapse of Sunnydale and she lost her best friends, a part of Buffy had stopped caring. Slaying vampires and demons no longer had the same gratifying feeling, she simply lived her days doing the exact same things, training new slayers and going on nightly patrols. Buffy now also knew that the wall that she had built around herself, the night Xander and Willow left Cleveland, hadn't only affected those relationships but also the relationship that she had with her sister, Giles and also the new generation of slayers.

But now there was hope. Buffy held on to the belief that maybe both Xander and Willow would forgive her for the words that she said and maybe, just maybe, they would be able to put the last five years behind them and be friends again. "Okay, Giles, you're losing me here. How have they been helping?"

Giles knew that with the return of The First, it was time for the truth be to exposed, the full truth. "I have a feeling that your encounter with a shovel, this evening, may not have been Paige's fault. It may have actually been a demon hunter."

Even though Buffy knew that Giles was trying to explain in which ways both Xander and Willow had been helping her, Buffy couldn't figure out what it had to do with the night's events. She had only ever heard of one person refer to himself as a demon hunter. "Like Gage The Demon Hunter?"

"My suspicions is that it likely wasn't Gage, himself, but possibly one of his hunters. Or rather one of his and Xander's hunters. Xander has spent the last five years, training new hunters and hunting various demons, here in Cleveland. But he hasn't done it alone, he has a good team behind him, including Gage Dukes." Giles didn't have anything but respect for the demon hunter. It wasn't just anyone who would be willing to put their life on the line for the fight against evil and yet he did it on a daily basis. And thanks to the hard work that both he and Xander had placed into new hunters, they now had two full teams with approximately a dozen demon-hunters in each.

Buffy found it hard to believe that there were other people hunting and killing vampires and demons in her city, other than her slayers, and yet she never knew. Buffy began to wonder how much had been going around, around her, and yet she never had a clue. She wondered how the new generation of slayers had never reported any run-ins with these hunters. _But I'm not with the girls all of the time. _"Do any of my slayers know?"

"A few of them do. But that is likely only because they have family members who are now hunters. I am not exactly aware on how it happened but only a couple of months after Xander and Gage began hunting demons on their own, people that they saved and others who had friends or family members who are slayers, began to ask Xander and Gage to train them." From the look on Buffy's face, Giles knew that she was upset and she had reason to be; he had lied to her everyday for the past five years. "I am truly sorry for not telling you about Willow and Xander."

"This is just way to much for anyone to handle. But I'll freak out about it later. I now know that Xander is still living here in Cleveland and he leads a group of hunters. Is that how he helps? By slaying demons? And how does Willow fit into all of this? Does she still live here too?" The questions simply kept forming in her mind at an alarming speed. She knew that she didn't have time to process the answers that Giles was giving her but Buffy thought that as long as she had the information, she could figure everything out later.

Although Giles worked alongside both the slayers and the hunters on a daily basis, Willow was a different matter entirely. "Willow is no longer in the country. She left the day after Kennedy's death, for London. She stayed with the Mother Coven for a few years and now she is the head of her own coven in Scotland. I haven't seen her since that day but I do speak to her on the phone every couple of months or so. The necklaces that you and the new slayers wear are actually charmed with a very strong protection spell. The hunters also wear ones that are very similar in nature. Our weapons are also a gift from Xander."

"You're telling me that all of our weapons were actually made by Xander and the hunters?" Buffy was in such shocked that she could no longer remain seated. As she stood up from her seat, Buffy made her way to the closest window, which overlooked the southern shore of lake Erie and the city's downtown core. She began to wonder to herself why Xander and Willow would still care enough to help her. Even if they didn't do it in person, there had to be a reason behind it. She knew that she didn't deserve their help but maybe it would be the opening that she needed in order to prove to them that she had grown and changed. Buffy knew that she could simply call Willow in Scotland and tell her, or call Xander up for coffee. This was something that she needed to show them and as horrifying as The First was, it's return was also exactly the opportunity to show both Xander and Willow that she had in fact changed.

"Every single one was handmade by a member of Xander's team." Not wanting to divulge more information than necessary about the new lives of both Xander and Willow, Giles decided to change the direction of the conversation. "We need to prepare for the return of The First. But first, you must speak to both Xander and Willow."

--- *** ---

Kerry heard the whole thing from the doorway. The young slayer had been searching for her best friend, April, when she decided to stop at The Watcher's Council to use the washroom. But on her way to the restroom, she overheard voices. The voices belonged to Buffy and Giles. She hadn't heard the whole conversation but it didn't matter because she had heard the most important part, the return of The First.

She couldn't believe her ears. The First was back and Buffy knew about it but she didn't bother telling anyone. The young slayer began to wonder how much her mentor was keeping from her and the rest of the slayers, all of whom placed their lives in her hands without hesitation. Kerry was beginning to think that maybe someone should probably start questioning Buffy's orders especially when it was clear that she wasn't being completely honest with them.

Despite the fact that Kerry hadn't participated in the last battle against The First. She had spent the last three years, listening to the stories past down from slayer-to-slayer. Stories directly from the original potentials turned slayers. Kerry knew that as much as she loved being a slayer, the idea of facing the original evil terrified her. _Only nine of thirty-eight potentials-turned-slayers made it out of the first fight against The First. I can be one of those who survives and April is going to have a blast. I just have to keep telling myself that and we'll both make it out of this alive. _

For a brief moment, Kerry was confused as to what she should do. A part of her wanted to stay and listen to what Buffy and Giles were discussing but the second part knew that she now really needed to find April and tell her about the return of The First.

The decision was soon made for her when Giles walked up to the door, closing it to allow him and Buffy with more privacy.

_To April it is. _Kerry thought to herself as she quietly made her way down the stairs towards the front entrance. _Now where am I going to find her? She could be anywhere. _As Kerry stood only a foot away from the door, a thought occurred to her. _I can just use the slayer-map. _The slayer-map was a map of Cleveland that with the help of some powerful magic, kept track of every single slayer within the city limits. Each slayer was represented by a light, the color of the light signified the team with which they patrolled and slayed.

Kerry quickly checked over her shoulder, after hearing movement coming from the upper floor. Even though it would have been simpler for her to walk out the front door, she needed to check the map first. But the map was in Giles' office and Buffy and Giles were in there. As she heard footsteps approaching the top of the staircase, Kerry ran under the stairwell, hoping that whomever was descending would not see her.

--- *** ----

"Can't you just go and talk to him for me? Find out if he even wants to talk to me, first." Buffy stated as she made her way down the stairs. Although Buffy wanted to talk to her old friends again, she wasn't too sure how she felt showing up and disrupting their new lives. Buffy still found it hard to believe that for the last five years, Xander has been one of the leaders for Cleveland's very own band of demon hunters and Willow now had the responsibility of her own Coven on the other side of the world. They had new lives, lives in which she was not a part of.

Giles understood the reasons as to why Buffy was nervous. The last time that she had spoken to Xander, it had ended in a heated argument but now it was time for them to work out their issues. "You can do this. He does still care about you and you need to ask him for his help, personally. Buffy, this is possibly your chance to reconcile with both Xander and Willow. Are you really willing to allow a chance such as this to pass?"

"I know. And Giles, I'm not mad at you for not telling me. If they made you choose between staying in their lives or never hearing from them again, you made the right decision. At least one of us knew that they were still alive and okay." She said as she tried to convince herself of the same thing, following Giles through the front door and out towards his car. _This can either be the best or one of the worse nights of my life._

*** --- ***

The minute that the door closed behind both Buffy and Giles, Kerry escaped from her hiding spot and ran up the stairs. She knew that she needed to be quick, in case Buffy or Giles returned early. There was also always the possibility of running into a junior watcher such as Andrew and Dawn, which would likely mean trouble.

Once in Giles' office, she saw it. To the naked eye, it looked like any other old wrinkled map of Cleveland. Except for the fact that it wasn't. It was a current map of the city enchanted with a spell to locate all slayers within the city limits.

All second-generation slayers, meaning all slayers except for Buffy and Faith, were forbidden from entering Mr. Giles's office. But fortunately for Kerry, April couldn't keep a secret from her and had informed her of the magic words necessary to make the slayer lights visible. Her best friend had once heard Giles use it in a search for Buffy during one of The Slayer's mysterious disappearances. April thought that it would be a good idea for both of them to know the words in case something were to ever happen. Kerry knew that this clearly wasn't what April had had in mind but it did the job.

The Slayer's disappearances weren't a regular thing but about twice a year, Buffy simply wasn't seen or heard from, for about a week. The rumors among the new slayers were that Buffy was either on special assignment or that she had a secret boyfriend. But Kerry believed, like April, that Buffy could possibly be leaving to clear her mind or mourn the loss of her best friends, in private.

Kerry couldn't even comprehend the feeling of losing her best friend. She and April shared everything and were each other's personal diaries. There were absolutely no secrets between them. Kerry knew that there wasn't anything that she couldn't tell April and she was pretty certain that the feeling was mutual.

"Slayers live among us. Now to find them is a must." The moment that the words were out of her mouth, dozens of small lights appeared brightly on the map. The brightest spot being the slayer house, where all but three of the lights appeared. Two of the three lights, spread over the city, were a bright green which signified Buffy's team, and the third was white which could only mean Buffy.

Kerry was easily able to identify her light which meant that April's was the second one. _Why is she in Industrial Valley? And by the looks of it, that's where Buffy is headed. Buffy is going to meet Xander, that means hunters. Shit, I'd better find April before she has a run-in with a hunter. Who knows how that could end. _

_--- *** ---_

Xander watched as the second teams of hunters began returning from their nightly patrols. He counted each one as they walked past him. "Ten, Eleven... Twelve." He smiled as the final hunter made her way towards him. "No one came back decapitated, so I guess that makes it a good night?" Xander lightheartedly asked as the hunter wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Nolan knocked Buffy out." Lucy knew that she wasn't one for words but after the words left her mouth, even she realized that she should have explained the situation further. "He hit her with a shovel."

"He did what?" Gage couldn't believe his ears. He had been on his way out the door but now he knew that he just had to hear what his little protégé did this time. "Nolan, get over here!" He ordered before allowing Lucy to answer his initial question. This was something that he knew that both he and Xander needed to hear directly from Nolan.

Normally, Gage trusted the young hunter. He even allowed him and his twin sister, Lucy, to lead their own team of demon hunters, despite their young age. At the age of twenty, Nolan had four years of demon hunting experience behind him, which was more than most of the hunters who currently patrolled the streets. But none of that mattered to Gage if Nolan had been senseless enough to hurt Buffy. He knew that if The Slayer was truly hurt, it would take all of his strength and training to prevent Xander from killing his own brother-in-law.

As Nolan approached his sister, Xander and Gage, it was clear to him, by the looks on their faces, that they knew. And in additional, the look on his sister's face reassured him that his intuition was right. "You told them?"

Lucy simply nodded in response as she hid her face behind Xander. She knew that she had to stay in order to ensure that neither Xander nor Nolan said or did anything that they may later regret. But on the inside, she just wanted to run away and escape to her garage. Whenever things became stressful or she simply needed time to think, Lucy found that building weapons for both herself and the other hunters seemed to have a calming effect on her.

_How is the only female demon hunter such a scaredy-cat that she needs to hide behind her husband? _Turning his attention back to Xander and Gage, Nolan knew that he was in trouble. He hoped that should Xander decide to kill him, his sister wouldn't simply sit by and watch. Nolan began searching the room for anything that Xander may decide to use as a weapon, in anger. _Shit! _He thought to himself as he saw that every single hunter's weapon was on the table behind Xander. Well, all except for Lucy and Gage's but that was due to the fact that they were still suited up. Nolan had only one choice, he had to beg for his life. "Okay, I know how it sounds."

"Is Buffy okay?!" Xander was beginning to lose his patience with his brother-in-law. Normally, Xander was able to simply laugh off Nolan's antics but this was crossing the line. He hurt someone who was still extremely important to him, despite the words she said. _Regular people shouldn't be out killing demons because then slayers have to both protect that person and yet still manage to kill the demon. In the end, the slayer is the one who pays for it._ For the last five years, those words had haunted him. But they were also the words that motivated him to find and train ordinary people who wished to join the fight against evil.

"Xander, how about we talk about this in private?" Gage offered. Xander's anger was visible and although he sympathized, this was a matter that needed to be discussed within the family. Not in front of the other twenty hunters who were in the room, waiting for their end-of-night orders.

"No, everyone should hear this." It took all of Xander's restraint in order to prevent himself from slamming Nolan up against the wall until he received some straight answers. Xander was beginning to believe that Nolan was avoiding the topic and he also believed that his wife and his best friend were helping him. "Is Buffy okay?"

Although Lucy believed that her brother shouldn't have hit The Slayer, he didn't deserve to have her husband ring him out in front of both of their squads. "Everyone out now. We'll debrief tomorrow evening." She then turned to Xander and continued. "She was waking up when we left."

"Yeah, and she's a slayer. The Slayer, which means that she most likely isn't badly hurt. I'm guessing that it probably won't be anything worse than a headache." Nolan knew that The Slayer had once been one of Xander's best friends but he couldn't understand why the night's events would upset his leader so much. He hadn't even spoken to her or anyone else from his past, in the last five years. _If their friendship is truly over then she shouldn't matter to him. Unless they were something more than just friends. I wonder how much Lucy knows about her husband's past with Buffy and Willow. _

Xander watched as the last of the hunters left the room. The only people remaining were himself, Nolan, Lucy and Gage. Once the door closed behind the last hunter, Xander turned his attention back to the young twenty years old hunter standing in front of him. "That isn't the point. You could have hurt her. And she could have seen you. How would you have explained that? Buffy is now going to come looking for whomever or whatever hit her. Are you ready for her to come after you and ruin everything that Gage and I have worked for?"

"What did you expect me to do? She was going to see me. I'm not sorry for what I did. I did what I felt as though I had to do to protect us." Nolan countered.

Normally when a situation required disciplinary measures, it was up to Xander to find the appropriate repercussions. But he knew that this time, he needed to hand the reigns over to Gage or he would end up doing something that he wouldn't only regret at the workplace but also at home, with Lucy. "I have to find out if she's okay." He stated as he turned around and walked out the door, leaving the others to wonder where he was headed.

It took a moment for Lucy to realized what had just happened. Xander left. Without saying anything to the others, she took off after him. If he was going to see Buffy, she was going with him.

"Why does he even care what happens to her? She clearly doesn't care about him. And you don't have to worry about Buffy coming over here because this cute little brunette slayer told us that she would take care of it. I think that she has the hots for me. But who can blame her; I was the hottest thing in there." Nolan told Gage as they watched the door close behind the female hunter.

Gage wasn't sure if Xander was okay but as much as he wanted to follow him, he knew that Xander needed his wife more. Although Lucy rarely spoke, the female hunter had a way of always making those around her feel at ease. It hadn't taken long for Lucy to break through the walls that both he and Xander had built up following Kennedy's death. And fortunately for Gage, she wasn't the only girl who had that ability.

"A really short brunette with shoulder length hair? She was probably wearing both large crossbow and a wooden bow on her back? They probably look too big for her to carry? " Gage asked. Something told him that he knew exactly which of the new generation of slayers had saved them from Buffy's potential wrath.

"Yeah, how did you know? Do you know her?" This small piece of information intrigued Nolan. He knew that there was no way that his mentor would ever be romantically involved with a slayer but he wondered if there was the possibility that Gage was somehow related to her.

_You can say that. _Gage thought to himself as he began grabbing a couple of extra arrows, placing them in his bag. "I've seen her while on patrol. She was a new slayer when I first met Xander, Buffy and Willow."

"Where are you going?"

As much as Gage wished that he could tell his friends about his post-patrolling disappearances, he knew that he couldn't. "I'm not tired. I think that I'll go for a drive. Maybe grab some McDonalds on the way. And you can put everyone's weapons away, lock up and head up to the apartment. I think that you've welcomed enough trouble for the day, we don't need anymore." Instead of letting Nolan reply, Gage walked out the same door that both Xander and Lucy had used only moments before.

--- *** ---

"You didn't leave." Lucy stated as she sat next to Xander on the hood of their car. Although she wanted to know more about her husband's past and the friends that he still clearly cared about, Lucy knew that she had to be patient. When she first met him, he never even spoke their names but slowly over the last four years, he began to open up to her.

Leaving had been his intention when Xander stormed out of the old building that was now Hunter's Headquarters. But leaving to go and check on Buffy was a lot more difficult than it had seemed.

He knew that Buffy was still in Cleveland and at the Slayer House, under Giles' watch. The hunters also did their business under the Watcher's Council even if the only other hunter who knew about that fact was Gage. Not even his own wife was privy to that information. It wasn't that Giles played a big role for the hunters but he did help by informing Xander on the slayers' nightly patrols. That way, it minimized the risk that hunters and slayers would run into each other which would likely cause Buffy to figure out that he was behind the hunters.

But Willow's whereabouts were still a mystery to him and she was the one that he worried about the most. Giles reassured him on a continuous basis that the redheaded witch was alright, nonetheless, Xander knew that he wanted to find her soon. Although Willow's reasons for leaving were valid to Xander, he felt as though since she left, a part of him was missing. There were still mornings when Xander woke up and forgot that the last five years had even happened. But the moment he felt Lucy's arms wrap around him, he remembered.

Lucy was the one good thing to come out of the last five years. He met her and her twin brother, Nolan, four years before prior while on patrol. They were being attacked by a gang of vampires when Xander and Gage found them. The hunters were able to save the young sixteen years olds but unfortunately, they couldn't save their parents.

With Lucy and Nolan left orphaned, Xander and Gage took in both teens and taught them how to fight the very monsters who killed their parents. Now, Nolan was almost as good of a hunter as Gage and although Xander knew that he was biased, nothing compared to Lucy's ability to make a weapon out of anything. She reminded Xander of Buffy in that sense. Xander smiled as he though about the many times that he watched Buffy kill a demon using the oddest things.

"I thought about it and I was going to but what would I say? I can't just knock on her door and say: 'I'm sorry that my friend hit you with a shovel but are you okay?'"

"Why not?" Lucy asked in response. She knew that it wouldn't be easy but at least it would have been an opening. _You didn't marry the Xander that I first met. _Gage's words still rang in her mind as she tried to figure out if a reunion between Xander, Buffy and Willow could possibly change the relationship that they shared as a couple.

It was clear to Xander, by the look on his wife's face, that although she was trying to be strong and supportive, she was really worried about something. "I'm not going to hit your brother."

"I know." Lucy smiled in an attempt to hide her true emotions as she turned to face her husband. _I'm lucky enough to be married to the first man that I've ever loved. I won't lose him, especially not to a slayer or a witch. _

Even though Xander believed that Lucy knew that he wasn't going to teach her brother a lesson, there still seemed to be something bothering her. "What's wrong? I'm sorry for blowing up. I just had to get some fresh air."

That was one thing that Lucy loved about Xander more than anything.; he always had the ability to know when she was keeping something from him and he also always seemed to know what to say to make her feel better. But Lucy knew that Xander now needed her help and encouragement. "I'm alright. Still going to see Buffy?"

"I can't."

"Why?"

Xander smiled back at Lucy and began rubbing his thumb along her cheekbone as he tilted her face upwards, kissing her gently. Even though she was more stoic than Oz, which he never believed could existed, she always said the right thing at the right time. Xander knew what she was doing. She was going to have him talk out his problem to the point where he finds his own solution. It was the same thing that she did whenever someone needed help with a problem, whether it be with a relationship or against a demon. But this was one time that Xander couldn't see himself finding a solution. "If I go over there, she is going to think that everything she said was alright. "

"But you've proved her wrong. Show her." Lucy didn't know exactly what had happened that infamous night but she did know that it ended when Buffy made the statement that normal people, who were only trying to help, were actually nuisances to her and the other slayers. The Slayer's words were what drove Xander and Gage to find and train anyone willing to join the fight against evil. Both men had succeeded in their mission, there were now an additional twenty-two demon hunters, including Lucy and her brother. Which was exactly the reason why Lucy felt as though Xander now had every right to go and show Buffy that she was wrong and that normal everyday people were just as capable as any slayer even without the extra speed and strength.

"How did I get so lucky to be married to you?" Xander asked, wrapping his arm around Lucy, bringing her even closer to him.

Lucy laughed as she begin giving Xander a series of short sweet kisses. "You gave in."

--- *** ---

Gage knew that he should probably start telling someone about his post-patrolling whereabouts. Especially when he knew that she certainly wasn't going to tell anyone. _Xander would figure it out. _

Xander was the only person to whom Gage had announced his engagement to his girlfriend of three years. He was also the only one who knew that Gage was actually dating someone. Everyone else thought that he simply enjoyed the monogamous life but it was actually the opposite; he envied the relationship that Xander and Lucy shared.

_Yeah, like that will ever happen for me. _He though to himself. It took him two years for him to convince his girlfriend to even go on a date with him and another three years for her to agree to marry him. _How long will it take for her to actually tell someone that we even know each other?_

It wasn't as though he didn't understand her reasons behind wanting to keep their relationship secret, she feared the reactions of those she considered her family. But meeting his girlfriend in a dark alley, in the early morning hours, wasn't exactly the easiest place for him to romance the woman he loved. Not that she was the romantic type to begin with but he wanted to show her what he believed she deserved.

As Gage entered the dark alley, an arrow shot past his head, embedding itself in the brick wall next to him. He knew exactly who it was. "That one must have required slayer strength to go straight into the wall. If someone didn't know you better they'd think that you were pissed about something." Gage said as he turned towards the direction in which the arrow originated. Just then a second pink arrow shot past him, barely missing him. "I love you too."

"You're late." April replied as she jumped from the ladder escape, landing perfectly on her feet. She walked right past Gage as she went to retrieve her arrows from the brick wall.

It was obvious to Gage that April was upset. _And you don't want to piss off a slayer. _He thought to himself. Gage knew that he had told April to be there for 2am and that it was almost now going on 3:30 in the morning. "Does 'I'm sorry' help?"

"You've got to be shitting me. Tonight was your idea." April couldn't believe her fiancé's ignorance. She saved his ass and those of the other hunters by covering for them with Buffy and yet he was the one who was late.

April knew that she was risking the love and respect of both Buffy and the other slayers by being with Gage but he was one thing that she refused to give up in light of being a slayer. She knew that she would likely soon have to tell the others before they found out on their own but the perfect time never seemed to come, especially in the life of a slayer.

Gage knew what he had to do to make it up to her. Without a moment's notice, he forcefully grabbed April, pulling her into an intense and passionate kiss. After about a dozen minutes, he pulled away and smiled when he saw that her eyes were still closed. "How about that? Does that make up for me being late?"

"Do it again and let me think about it. But don't stop until I say so." She replied breathlessly. April smiled as she turned the tables and took control over the situation. _Damn, he's a good kisser. But I'm better. _April thought to herself as she pushed him up against the wall and began trailing kisses down his neck.

Gage loved the feeling of having April in his arms. She looked so petite next to him with her standing at just under five feet compared to his 6 feet and 2 inches. But sized proved to be deceiving in their case because they both knew that April was much stronger than he was.

As she pulled away, he noticed, for the first time, that she had a black eye. "You okay?" He asked as he lightly touched the bruise forming around her right eye.

April instantly pulled away from his touch. She hated the feeling of being helpless and vulnerable. But Gage always had a way of making her feel that way and yet she surprisingly didn't hate it when he did it. She knew that it would probably sound weird to someone else but it made her feel like a lady, cared for. It was a feeling that was against everything that she had been taught that a slayer was supposed to be.

But this injury was work-related and that was something that April knew she had to keep separate from her personal life if she wanted any chance at happiness with Gage. It was obvious to April that that was where Buffy had likely gone wrong with her past loves. "I'm a slayer which means that I heal quickly. So don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. Anyways lets change the subject. What else do you want to talk about? You can choose the topic."

Gage felt as though she allowed him the perfect opening to bring up the very topic that worried him the most. "Alright, how about we talk about our engagement?" It pained him to see April cringe at his last word. Engagement. He knew that she loved him but he wondered if she didn't love being a slayer more. "Do you even want this? Us?"

April couldn't believe that he was actually asking her that question. He never seemed to understand that every time she spoke to him or met with him, she was putting the both of them at risk. April had no idea how Buffy or the slayers would react to the news. She also feared the reactions of the other hunters. "Of course, I want us. I don't want to lose you and if marrying you is what I need to do to prove to you that I love you, then I'll do it. It's just hard because we, us, shouldn't be. I'm a slayer and you're a hunter. We shouldn't even know each other. The last time that a slayer paired up with a hunter, it didn't end very well." As soon as the words left her mouth, she immediately regretted the words that she had chosen, especially as she watched Gage turned around and walk away from her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. It's just that I'm scared, I don't know how to tell Buffy and Kerry about us. I can't just come out and announce that I'm engaged to Gage Dukes, they'd freak."

Gage hated to admit it but Buffy's influence over April did put them at risk. It was that same reason that had caused Kennedy's death. From the first moment he had met the Latino slayer, they clicked, instantly becoming best friends. But that night when Buffy had told her to patrol without him, Kennedy listened. Just as he knew that April would. But Gage refused to lose another person that he loved to Buffy's dictatorship.

"You know that the longer you wait, the harder that it will be to tell them. How much simpler would it have been if you would have told them when we first started dating?"

"If I were you, I'd pick another subject. Especially if you want to continue kissing me tonight." April warned. It wasn't that she was mad with Gage for mentioning it, it was that she was angry with herself because she knew that he was right.

"Okay, how about we play a little game and to make it even more interesting, we can add a little wager to it." Gage knew exactly what to say in order to intrigue his fiancée. Her world revolved around having fun and he had something planned that would definitely make her happy.

April wondered what he had in mind. The only thing that worried her was the word 'wager'. April enjoyed the idea of having a little fun with Gage but by placing a wager on it, it turned the game into a competition and not necessarily a good one. "Want to explain what exactly you mean by wager? Because if this is what you have in mind, I'll give it to you right now. No questions asked." She stated as she grabbed the neck of Gage's shirt and pulled his lips down to hers. April smiled as she felt Gage's hand rest in the back pockets of her jeans. _I might have him right where I want him. I knew that he couldn't last. But I'm not complaining; I'm going crazy without sex too._

Gage could feel his resiliently fading. He loved her so much that the only thing he wanted to do was drag her back to his apartment and show her. But he swore to both himself and April that they wouldn't have sex again until she agreed to go back to his apartment. That was where their last conversation had ended. April told him that she couldn't go back to his apartment with him because of the fact that he lived with Nolan and that meant there was the risk that their secret would be exposed.

"We can't. I can't." Gage said as he pulled away from April's embrace. "Although, this is perfect. I had something else in mind. I know about a vamp nest, only about a block from here. I told my squad that we could hit it tomorrow before sunset but I think that you deserve it. There is only one thing that I am asking for. If I win, you tell your friends about us." It was clear to him that April was definitely intrigued by his offer but he knew that the part about exposing their secret could be a deal breaker.

"Isn't that nice? Most girls get flowers or chocolates from their boyfriends but I get a vamps' nest." April laughed as she continued to think about his offer. Although she knew that she could easily win the bet, she wondered if losing would be so bad. _Maybe it's time. _

--- *** ---

Kerry couldn't believe what she both seen and heard. _I've heard enough; I'm out of here. I can't believe that she would keep something like this from me. We've been best friends for the last three years. We shared everything from our bedroom to our deepest and darkest secrets. Well, I thought that we did._

She then climbed back up the fire escape and onto the roof. Her knapsack caught itself on a small fence as she climbed it in order to jump onto the roof of the next building. Not having the patience to gently untangle the bag from it's hold, Kerry simply jerked the bag towards her, ripping the pocket.

--- *** ---

Buffy couldn't believe that she was at Hunters Headquarters, which was what Giles had called it. There had been multiple nights when Buffy and her teams patrolled in that exact neighborhood and yet she had no idea that Xander was within one of the buildings. For all she knew they could have pasted each other while on patrol and she never knew.

When they had first arrived, a young man by the name of Nolan told them that Xander was in the back in the empty parking lot. Buffy found it strange that the guy kept looking at her in a weird way. At first, he had been hesitant to give them any information until Giles stated that he was a close friend of both Gage and Xander. Her watcher then began to recite Nolan's own full biography in order to prove his point. Personally, Buffy imagined that it must have felt strange to the young man to have some stranger know everything about him.

Once they knew where Xander was, Giles turned to Buffy and encouraged her to go see Xander on her own. This terrified Buffy, she had no idea what to expect or what to say. It wasn't as though she could simply say 'hi' and everything would go back to the way that it was before. But Buffy knew that if she didn't get over her fear, she was guaranteeing to never have her best friends back in her life.

Buffy instantly began second-guessing her decision as she approached Xander. From across the parking lot, Buffy was easily able to make out Xander's silhouette but she could also tell that he wasn't alone. Someone was with him, a woman. _Hi Xander... Hi Xander, I'm sorry... No... Xander, I was an idiot... Urgh, what am I going to say? _She thought to herself as she continued to approach him.

--- *** ---

As Lucy placed her long dark brown hair back into a ponytail, she noticed that someone was walking towards them. _Why would a woman be walking through Industrial Valley at 4am? _She thought to herself. Softly, she nudged Xander in the ribs with her elbow and when their eyes met, she turned her head towards the woman.

Even after five years, Xander knew exactly who it was. He had spent many nights since he was sixteen years old, waiting for that same figure to return from battle. "Buffy..." He whispered as Buffy now stood only a few feet away from him. But she didn't move any closer.

"Hi Xander." Buffy knew that it wasn't much but it was a start. _Step One complete._

Lucy couldn't believe what she was seeing. Buffy, The Slayer, was standing in front of her. Now Lucy was able to get a better look at her, especially since this time, The Slayer was conscious. _She's beautiful. I wouldn't blame Xander if he loved her. _Lucy turned to look at Xander and found that her husband hadn't taken his eyes off of Buffy. _Does he still love her?_

"Buffy, why are you here?" Xander asked as soon as his brain restarted. He still couldn't believe that it was real. There was only one thing missing, Willow.

Buffy now had a better look at the female next to Xander. She appeared rather young which caused Buffy to wonder how she knew Xander. _I don't know anything about Xander's new life._ The way in which the young woman looked at Buffy, unnerved The Slayer. "Can we talk in private?" Buffy didn't know the young woman, meaning that she was unsure as to how much she knew about their past.

"We can." Xander replied. He then turned to Lucy but saw that his wife was already in the process of climbing off of the hood of their car. "Luce, wait for me?"

"I'll be inside." Lucy replied as she walked away, keeping her back to the two old friends. _I'm not going to just sit around and let someone take my man._

_---***---_

The building was old and apparently long forgotten, the windows boarded up, walls chipped, cracked, and covered in graffiti, thus meaning when Gage's heel slammed into the door, the door tore away from its rotting frame, hanging uselessly on just one hinge. He slipped his silver-plated brass knuckles on through the fingers of his left hand, thumbing the crosses that Lucy had etched into the metal. As he walked into the ruined building, it was clear to him that the vampires had heard their entrance; they were already on their feet and staring back at them.

It must have been only a couple of seconds before April barged past him, unslinging her crossbow from her back and loading it in one fluid motion. Bringing the butt against her shoulder, she tilted her head to look down the bolt at one of the vampires, who had already taken the opportunity to lunge towards her. She squeezed the trigger, sending the bolt whistling through the air before it slammed the vampire back against the wall. He burst into ash upon contact with the wall, this instantly sent the other vampires into a frenzy.

Gage rolled his eyes as April rushed towards the biggest vampire in the room, it must have been almost 7 feet tall. But she used her lack of height as an advantage as she snapped its head back by ramming her crossbow under its chin, before she darted further into the room. His attention was immediately drawn away from his fiancée as he needed to duck under the arms of a vampire who was attempting to attack him. Not allowing the vampire to regain its composure, he twisted around to punch it in the side of the face, burning four small crosses into its face. The vampire snarled and swiped, but Gage easily dodged, lashing out at a second vampire as it went to kick him. He dropped under a roundhouse right from his first attacker, pulling a long knife out of his boot as he sprang up and blocked a follow through, slashing the vampire's eyes, blinding him. An animalistic howl of agony tore from the vampire's throat, resonating through the entire building.

April knew that she had to ignore the sounds of Gage fighting in order to concentrate on winning her own fight. It wasn't something that was difficult for her to do, she was accustomed fighting along side other people. But the moment that she heard the scream that tore through the room, she whipped her heard around towards the source of the horrifying noise. Fortunately for her, the scream did not come from Gage and she could help but smile as she saw him smirk before ramming a stake through a vampire's heart. April soon realized that turning her attention away from her own fight was a serious mistake, she uttered a startled cry and dropped her crossbow as she was seized from behind and lifted high into the air.

"Fuck…You're not going to stop me from winning …" She yelled, clawing at the strong arms around her chest as she was spun around, ready to be thrown against a wall. As the vampire pushed forward, April brought her knees up to her chest and pressed her feet to the wall, shoving herself backwards. The action must have caught the vampire by surprise because it stumbled backwards, allowing April the opportunity to free herself. The moment that she was back on her own feet, she whirled around to face the vampire, squeezing the release on the hidden stake strapped to her left forearm. As shot out and she slammed it through the vampire's breastbone and into its chest, letting go of the release allowing the stake slide back into its harness. She scooped up her crossbow and quickly loaded it again, aiming at the two vampires who were heading for Gage. She fired the crossbow, dusting both of them in one shot. She quickly scanned their surroundings in search of more vampires. When she didn't see any, April gave her lover a smug look as she watched him dust his own enemy.

"HAH! I win!" She announced, taking time to do a small victory dance. She was happy that she won but a part of her had somewhat hoped that he would win, finally giving her a reason to allow their secret to be exposed. "I told you that I would win. So what do I win again?"

April began to grow confused as Gage didn't answer her as he approached her, calmly. He placed a firm hand on her shoulder before shoving her aside, dusting the two vampires who had only just joined the fight from the adjoining room. The Hunter pocketed his stakes, and dusted off his hands, turning to smirk down at the slayer who was now sitting on the floor. He quirked one eyebrow, looking pleased with himself for killing more vampires than she did, therefore winning the bet. "You were saying?"

_--- *** ---_

"Why are you here?" Xander repeated as he watched his wife walk away. He knew that there was something still worrying her but he also knew that it could likely wait until they returned home. Right now, he knew that he had to find out what had brought Buffy back to him.

Buffy really had no idea how to respond. She knew that if she instantly brought up the return of The First, Xander would likely believe that it was the only reason for her sudden appearance. But it was in fact only an excuse to talk to him again. Buffy had missed Xander's sense of humor and his ability to 'see' everything around him. Now she had her chance to prove to him that she had changed and that she had grown. "I'm sorry for what I said that night. It was wrong. I was wrong. I can't go back and change the past, I would if I could."

"Maybe we can ask Willow to?" Xander jokingly asked. He could tell that Buffy was being sincere with her apology. And even though he knew that he could never forget her hurtful words, Xander wondered if they possibly had a chance to rebuild the friendship they once shared or was too late. "Buff, why now?"

It was a question that was both simple in a sense but also very difficult in the other. "It took me a while to realize that I was wrong and that you were right. But by time I figured it out, you and Willow had already been gone for so long. I had no idea where you were or even if you were still alive. It was torture. Until tonight..."

Xander began to question whether asking Giles to keep his presence in Cleveland secret from the slayer was the best thing to do. He had always known that he wasn't going to be the one to apologize except Xander suddenly realized that he hadn't given her a way to. Although Xander wanted to believe that Buffy was only there because Giles had finally caved in and told her everything, he knew that there had to be a reason that Giles broke his promise. "Is there another reason that you're here? Why did Giles tell you now?"

_How do I tell him about The First yet not make it sound as though it's the only reason that I'm here? I've missed him and I miss Willow too. I just want them back in my life. Why does The First have to come back now? _Buffy couldn't figure out the right words to explain how she felt. But she knew that she was beginning to scare him. The man that she still considered one of her best friends, was inching closer to her. "Don't blame Giles. I really don't think that he wanted to tell me but it isn't like he had much of a choice. I need your help Xander and I need Willow's too." Buffy was well aware of the fact that she was about to cross the point of no return. After a couple of deep breaths, she continued. "The First is back or coming back. We don't know which one yet but either way, it has to be taken care of. And I'm still The Slayer which means that it's my responsibility to make sure that innocent people stay safe but I can't do that without the help of my friends. How about it? Ready for another round against the original evil?"

Buffy began to grow nervous as Xander seemed to ponder her questions for a long time.

Xander felt as though he was dreaming. But it wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare. The First was back. The original battle had been their toughest demon and they had lost many people that they loved and cared about in that fight. But as much as he wanted to help in this time, Xander knew that he couldn't do it unless they had a chance. And they didn't stand a chance without her. "It depends on what Willow decides."


	4. Chapter 3 The Magic that might bring

Chapter.3 – The Magic that might bring…

"It depends on what Willow decides." Xander knew that he'd find it difficult to walk away from the situation but if Willow didn't agree to help, they didn't stand a chance against The First. And he refused to put Lucy and the other hunters at risk. If Willow did forgive Buffy, Xander began to wonder how he'd feel about his new loved ones taking part in a fight of that magnitude. Sure, they had taken part in some dangerous situations but nothing compared to the battle that he had faced with the Scoobies, especially the day that Sunnydale collapsed; the day they thought that they had destroyed The First.

--- *** ---

Lucy couldn't believe her luck. Just as Xander really started to open up about his past, his past shows up before she could even decide how she feels about the situation. Then Xander had the nerve to ask her to leave so that he and The Slayer could talk in private. _I'm his wife. What can he have to say to her that he can't say in front of me. Where's Nolan? _

Her brother was the one person that she knew would be sympathetic to her concerns. Buffy was back and she had no clue what that meant. _For all I know, they could have dated or even been engaged. What if she still has feelings for him? Then there's Willow... I wonder where she is and how she fits into this? Maybe it's some kind of love triangle? I'm going to go crazy if I don't find my flippin' brother. _

As Lucy walked up to the second floor of Hunters Headquarters, she heard voices. One of them, she was certain belonged to her brother while the second one was one that she had never heard before. Both out of a sense of curiosity and need to ensure that her twin brother was safe, she did something that she normally wouldn't have done, she walked towards the voices. At any other time, she would have left, not wanting to be near anyone but with Buffy's return, something lead her towards Gage's office.

But the instant that she entered the room, both men stopped talking. Sitting behind Gage's desk was Nolan as an older gentleman sat in one of two chairs on the other side. Something about the way that the man dressed told her that he clearly wasn't from around Cleveland; he wore a dark brown tweed suit and a pair of glasses. Also based on the second voice that she had heard from the hallway, she would bet that he was British. Personally, she didn't know anyone English but she did remember that Xander had once mentioned that The Slayer's watcher, Giles, was British.

Immediately upon her entrance, Giles knew who the young woman was as soon as she entered the room. And from the way that Nolan was looking at her, Giles knew that he was right. "Lucy, it is nice to finally meet you. I have heard quite a lot about you."

Lucy began to wonder why Xander had not kept in contact with him; Giles seemed to be nice enough and the argument had been between Xander, Buffy and partially Willow, it hadn't even involved him. But what unnerved Lucy about Giles was the fact that he seemed to know exactly who she was and yet this was the first time that she had ever met him. Hoping that her brother knew more about what was going on than she did, she turned to him with a look of confusion.

"Luce, this is Mr. Rupert Giles. He is The Slayer's watcher. I guess that he was like a watcher for Xander too." Nolan introduced. His conversation with Giles had been one that he had not expected. Once alone with the older gentleman, Giles had explained how he knew Xander. But what confused Nolan more was the fact that Giles knew exactly who the hunters were and what they did. Hunters were supposed to stay below the radar, hidden from slayers. But wasn't the case if someone working for the slayers knew about them. And as far as he could remember, neither Gage or Xander had ever mentioning his name before. This made Nolan wonder how much his mentors had been keeping from him and the other hunters. _I wonder who is really pulling the strings around here._

_This is definitely messed up. Xander doesn't have a watcher or at least I didn't know that he did. But then I really don't know anything about the 'old' Xander. _Lucy felt as though everything that she thought she knew about her husband didn't mean a thing compared to all the things that she clearly didn't know about him. "Nice to meet you. Are you here with Buffy?"

"Yes, I am. She didn't know where to find Xander but fortunately for us, I did. Do you happen to know how things are going between them?" Giles asked anxiously. He knew that there would likely be a lot of tension between the two friends but he hoped that under the circumstances they could find a middle ground and work together yet again to prevent another Apocalypse. He even held on to hope that the challenges that they were certainly about to face may bring the three friends to reconcile the past.

_That is all they're here for. They want Xander but what about the rest of us? _Lucy knew that she had to get away and there was only one place where Lucy knew that she could be totally by herself; allowing her time to think about the whole mess of a situation. "Sorry, I have to go." She quickly said, leaving the room just as tears began to pour down her cheeks. Not wanting either the watcher or her brother to see her cry, she didn't bother to turn around and close the office door, behind her.

It was obvious to Nolan that his sister was upset but he couldn't figure out the reasons why. He doubted that it had anything to do with Giles' appearance which meant that it had to either be the sudden appearance of The Slayer or Xander must have done something. "Yeah, I have to go with her. But it was definitely... interesting talking to you." Nolan said as he excused himself from the room. Leaving Giles to ponder the acts of the young twins.

--- *** ---

It wasn't very hard for Nolan to figure out where his sister had gone. And since he was pretty sure that Xander was still somewhere around Headquarters, he knew that Lucy wouldn't have gone back to their apartment without him which could only mean that she was in one place. The Garage.

The large garage that sat at the opposite end of the building, it was where Lucy made all of the weapons that the hunters required as well as any special toys that she could think of, such as Gage's vampire-killing car. Building things apparently had a calming effect on his sister and he had to admit, she was really good at it. But getting covered in grease and oil was definitely not Nolan's idea of a good time. He would rather be playing with his band at one of the local clubs, flirting with the many women who often threw themselves at him and end the night by killing of a couple of vampires or demons. It was the life that Nolan lived and enjoyed, it was also the life that he knew would likely suffer some changes should The Slayer become involved in their lives and their business.

"Hey, what's going on here? The Slayer is here, her watcher is here, Xander is talking to them and I can't get a hold of Gage." Nolan asked, at the top of his voice making sure that he was heard over the sound of the torch that Lucy was using.

"Out." She replied calmly as she turned off the machine but never looking up from her work. But it didn't take Lucy long to figure out that her brother hadn't gotten the message. "Get out or you'll be leaving with a scorched ass." She looked up, their eyes meeting.

Nolan was used to be threatened by vampires or demons, even the boyfriends of the women he met at the clubs, but not his own sister. They were the only ones left in their family, meaning that they had to take care of each other. "You're scared and I know that it has to do with The Slayer being here. If it makes you feel better, I can definitely knock her out again, just let me go get the shovel."

Her brother's attempt to make her smile worked. _Leave it to Nolan to joke around about the one thing that might have brought on this whole situation. _"Very funny. You can stay."

"I wasn't planning on leaving. I think now that Xander is talking to The Slayer, we as hunters have to stick together more than ever. We don't know exactly where Xander's loyalties lie. What do you know about The Slayer, The Witch and The Watcher?" Nolan asked as he took a seat on the bottom step. He hoped that his sister would have more information about these new people than he did. She was married to Xander so he figured that Xander must have mentioned something to her.

Setting her torch aside, Lucy made her way towards her brother, taking a seat next to him. "They were close, really close. I'm not sure exactly how though. But something tells me that he'll forgive her for everything that she said, five years ago."

Nolan knew that his brother-in-law was talking to the Slayer, but he had hoped that Xander was setting her straight, proving to her that she wasn't needed and that they were doing fine on their own without her help. "Why would he do that? She thinks that all normal people are incapable to defending themselves against vamps and shit. She doesn't even let her own sister fight when doing what she does, she earns that right. And if he forgives The Slayer, how does The Witch fit into all of this? Willow, right?"

--- *** ---

Giles didn't know what to think about the events that had just occurred. One minute, he was attempting to explain the history of The Slayer to Nolan and then Lucy, Xander's wife, appeared looking clearly upset. The following minute, both twins had left causing Giles to wonder if a reunion of The Scoobies was even possible. Especially since it would also likely mean a merge of the slayers, hunters and Willow's coven members. "Something tells me that that might be their biggest challenge." He said, a loud, to himself.

"What will be who's biggest challenge?" Buffy asked, announcing both her and Xander's presence in the room. She began looking around the room, it was clear that it was someone's office but she wasn't sure who's. That was until she noticed that plaque on the wall: 'The City of Cleveland who like to thank Gage Dukes for his work in reducing the city's gang violence'. _So he is still around. I wonder where he is?_

"Nothing. I was simply thinking out loud to myself. I take the fact that the two of you are before me as a sign that you are on board, Xander?" Giles asked, hoping that a reunion between the three friends was still possible.

Xander knew that they were hoping for a sure answer but he didn't feel right giving them one before talking to Willow. In the end, she was the one who had been hurt the most by Buffy's new attitude when they arrived in Cleveland. Willow lost the second person that she ever loved and Xander knew that that would had to have changed her. And the fact that they hadn't spoken since that night made Xander wonder if the Willow that he knew and loved was actually the same Willow that now lived in Scotland. But one thing that he knew for sure, he was going to see Willow again and this time, he wasn't letting her go without a fight. "I'm in if Will's in." He stated simply, taking a seat at the corner of Gage's desk.

"That is fair enough. This will be the perfect opportunity to use the private jet. I take it that we shall all go see Willow together?" Giles offered. Although Xander's reply hadn't been exactly what he had expected, there was still hope. Or at least Giles hoped that there was. Despite that fact that Giles hadn't seen Willow since her departure, he had clearly noticed a change in her even though their telephone conversation. She seemed to have turned herself off in relation to all things slayer related, unless it came to their protection.

Xander couldn't believe what he had just heard. "You have a private jet?" Then it occurred to him that he had no idea, where on earth, Willow was. "Where is Will? She can't be too close if we have to jet it." Xander was happy that he was sitting, all of the things were beginning to make him lightheaded.

"We have to go to Scotland to get her. Does she know that we're coming?" Buffy felt slightly better knowing that at least Xander was as much in the dark about Willow as she was. It meant that Giles hadn't only kept things from her but he had also chosen to not tell Xander anything either. _Willow must really be mad at both of us, if she doesn't even talk to Xander. I mean, they've known each other for most of their lives. I hope that she is okay._

"She's in Scotland?" Xander had always had the feeling that Willow was no longer in Cleveland but he had no idea that she was all the way of the other side of the world.

Giles had expected to be bombarded with questions by both Buffy and Xander but Willow was still a hard topic for him to discuss. Buffy's question about whether or not Willow knew that they were coming was likely the most painful question that he could have been asked. "Xander, to answer your question; she is in Scotland. She has been there for two years now. And Buffy, Willow doesn't know that we are coming. I have chosen to not tell her but I have been in contact with one of her coven members who will ensure that Willow is there." He replied, turning towards the weapons wall, not wanting Buffy and Xander to see the tears in his eyes.

He considered Willow as one of his children and his last attempt to go and see her, to ensure her safety for himself, hadn't gone exactly as expected. He had traveled from Cleveland to Scotland, almost two years prior but unfortunately, she found out about his arrival and left before he could even see her. The cottage that had become home to her and her coven had been left empty. This time, Giles had decided to enlist the help of one of her coven members to making sure that Willow would be there when he arrived with Buffy and Xander. "Hope, a member of Willow's Coven, will be awaiting our arrival."

It was clear to both Buffy and Xander that there had to be something more that Giles was choosing not to tell them but it was also apparent that whatever it was, it was something that upset him.

"So, lets go. I'm sure that Dawn and April can manage things here while we're overseas." Buffy stated, deciding to change the direction of the conversation. For now. She was curious to find out what had happened when Giles had gone to Scotland but she also knew that it could wait until later. Right now, the only thing that she wanted to do was see Willow. No matter what Giles said, Buffy wanted to make sure that Willow was still in one piece, for herself.

Knowing that Buffy and Xander were likely both wanting to leave promptly, Giles had already made arrangements for the jet to be ready to leave. And had the reunion between Xander and Buffy not gone well, Giles had decided that he would have gone without them. But to his delight, it seemed to have gone alright, for now. "The jet is set to leave in an hour. Xander, I can have a car pick you up at your apartment if you'd like."

As much as Xander wanted to simply hop on a plane and go to Scotland, in search of Willow, he knew that he had to talk to both Gage and Lucy first. "I'll meet you at the airport. I have a few things to do first. But I will be there."

Before leaving with Giles, to prepare for their overseas travels, Buffy turned to Xander. "It's really nice seeing you again."

"The feeling is mutual." Xander admitted as he watched both Giles and Buffy walk out the front door. Once he was certain that they had left, he turned around in search of where his wife might have gone.

Since she wasn't in the lounge area, he knew exactly where she was, the garage. As he approached what he considered wife territory, he heard both his wife and her twin brother, Nolan, speaking. Not wanting to interrupt, he decided to simply wait until they were finished before telling them that he was leaving.

"Why would he do that? She thinks that all normal people are incapable to defending themselves against vamps and shit. And if he forgives her, how does The Witch fit into all of this. Willow, right?" Xander heard his brother-in-law ask. He knew that if Nolan was asking that there was a good chance that Lucy was asking herself the same thing.

"Her name is Willow and she's probably the most important person in the world at the moment. But you wouldn't know because you don't know what's going on. Nolan, can you give your sister and me a few minutes to talk?" Xander asked, announcing his presence. He had decided that he should at least answer a few questions before leaving but he felt more comfortable talking about everything with Lucy alone. _She's going to tell him later anyways._ He thought to himself.

"Sure, go right ahead." Replied Nolan, as he continued to sit next to his sister. _I'm not leaving unless she tells me to. _He swore to himself. Initially, he hadn't liked the idea of his sister and Xander together but they just seemed to fit. Plus he knew that his sister would never have listened to him in the first place. But this was one situation where he felt like he needed to put his foot down.

Lucy knew what her brother was doing and although she appreciated it, it was unnecessary. "Nol, go away." She smiled, hoping that her brother wouldn't notice how nervous she really was. _Why I am so nervous? It isn't like I haven't ever spoken to my husband, alone._

Nolan simply rolled his eyes and stood up. Just as he was making his way out of the room, he stated. "I guess that I'll just go back to the apartment. Maybe Gage is back from his little solo adventure."

For a brief moment, both Xander and Lucy exchanged confused looks as they were unsure if Nolan was speaking to them or to himself. But their answer came quickly, when the garage door slammed shut behind him.

Once Xander was sure that they were alone, he took a seat next to his wife on the stairs. "Lucy, there's something that I have to tell you."

_Oh God, what does he have to tell me? This is it; he's going to tell me that he's leaving me for Buffy. _Lucy silently panicked. Although she knew that she was likely overreacting, she couldn't think of any good news that Xander would tell her when he began the conversation by admitting to her that there was something that he needed to tell her. Unsure on how she should reply, she simply took his hand into her own and looked into his eyes, silently waiting for him to continue.

Xander knew that the conversation could go one of two ways. He just wasn't sure which reaction his wife would have. "I have to go to Scotland with Buffy and Giles." He blurted out then watched as a look of total confusion appeared on his wife's face. "It will only be for a couple of days."

"Why do you have to go?" She quietly asked, unsure if she even wanted to know the answer.

"We're going to see Willow." He replied.

For Lucy, the mention of Willow's name was the last straw. Her husband was planning on traveling to the other side of the world with two people who were pretty much strangers to her and all to go see a woman who, in her opinion, didn't care about him. "They show up after five years and suddenly you decide to leave with them. I'm sorry but I can't accept that."

It was more than obvious to Xander that his wife was pissed off. She was talking a lot more than she ever had since he'd known her. He understood her reasons for being upset but she didn't know the whole story so she couldn't understand his reasons for leaving. Xander also knew that he would also likely receive the same reaction from the other hunters. None of them had faced anything remotely as evil as the things that he had faced with the Scoobies and he hoped that by doing this, they wouldn't have to. "I don't blame you for not understanding."

"I don't understand because you've never explained it to me; but that was okay. I understood that you didn't want to talk about the past but now, these people are in our present. And you're going to leave everything that you've worked for? That we've worked for? And for what? For one person who treated you like shit and two more who couldn't care enough to contact you at least once within the last five years?" Lucy knew that she was probably scaring Xander with her outburst but he was scaring her by keeping her in the dark about what was really going on.

Even though Xander knew that his wife's anger and fear were his fault, he knew what he needed to do and hoped that it was enough for the time being. "I can't explain everything, right now. I have to go to Scotland. But I promise that I'll explain everything when I get back. Just remember that I love you and that's why I have to do this."

With the promise of all of the information with his return, Lucy knew that something big must have happened. "Xander, you're really scaring me. What's going on? Why did Buffy come here? And why now?"

Quickly checking his watch, Xander realized that if he didn't leave soon, Buffy and Giles would likely think that he changed his mind and therefore leave without him. "I'm sorry, Baby. I have to go now."

"But what about hunting? What about the company? And you're not even packed." She reminded him. Lucy knew that if going to Scotland to see Willow was so important to him, she couldn't ask him to stay. But it didn't mean that she wanted him to go either. She had hoped that by reminding him of his responsibilities in Cleveland, he would choose to stay, even if it was only long enough for him to explain everything to her.

"Gage can handle both the other hunters and my construction crews. Plus I doubt that you'll let him mess up." Xander smiled as he took a moment to place a strand of Lucy's hair back behind her ear. "And I have a bag already packed, in my office. I didn't know if this day would ever happen but I wanted to be ready in case something like this did. I know that you're mad at me but I need you to understand that this is beyond my control anymore."

"I'm not mad at you. Just leave so that you can come back sooner." Lucy answered, pulling Xander into a kiss by the collar of his shirt. "Just a reminder of what's waiting for you here."

Xander enjoyed a couple more minutes of his wife's attention until he realized that if he didn't leave at that moment, he would likely miss his flight. "I'll come home." He stated as he reluctantly pulled away from Lucy and stood up. Not wanting to say goodbye, Xander simply grabbed a couple of weapons from the table next to the staircase, placing them in a bag.

Just as he was about to leave the room, he turned to his wife one last time. "Thank you. You're amazing and I love you for it."

Lucy watched as Xander then turned back around and left the garage, leaving her alone with her thoughts. _Yeah, I'm absolutely amazing. _She sarcastically thought to herself as her tears began to fall.

--- *** ---

_The following day_

"I thank you, Sir. I promise that I will speak to her again. And I also want to thank you, again, for your understanding." Willow said into the phone, before hanging up. She couldn't believe that she had done it again. Willow knew that a call from the headmaster shouldn't surprise her anymore but this call had been different. This time, the school had real suspicions as opposed to their regular "concerns".

"What did the brat do this time?" Celeste asked as she walked into the kitchen. It wouldn't have shocked her if the youngest member of their coven had exploded the school. Celeste was certain that she was the end of them. But as usual, her concerns were ignored. Which was exactly why the twenty-two years old witch happily settled for making Ellie Kerezsi's life miserable, even if she had to do it behind Willow's back.

Willow turned around to face Celeste. It wasn't that she disliked her but Willow didn't have the patience to deal with another round of Celeste's constant warnings. It in the end, Ellie was a member of the coven and what she did made it a coven matter which meant that all coven members had a right to know what was going on. "She was the only person in the room before the headmaster's desk and chair was found set up perfectly in the fountain that sits in front of her school."

"And I bet she didn't use any magic for that." Celeste replied sarcastically. "She's just like her mother, meaning that she won't learn until it's too late. And I know that you don't want to admit it but she'll probably end up bringing us down with her." Since she was sixteen, Celeste had worked to maintain what little natural magic that she had. Although it was likely only enough for her to protect herself, which was nothing compared to the other members of the coven, she was proud of what she did and what she believed. But Ellie was everything that was against what they believed as Wiccans and not even Willow's constant guidance wasn't enough for the young witch to learn that any and all black magic should be forbidden and definitely not for personal use. There had already been a few occasions where Ellie's ignorance had placed the coven in danger, Celeste wondered how many more they could survive. _The Mother Coven would never have allowed her to act in this manner. _

Willow knew that Celeste was right. Ellie did know better than to use magic, any magic, without her supervision. It wasn't that Ellie didn't have power; it was the fact that she was a little too powerful for someone her age. There was also the fact that no matter which spell the young teenager did, it often went wrong. A feeling that she definitely understand but knew that it could mean danger. "I know she used magic. Thank The Goddess that they don't have proof that she did."

The sound of someone entering her small two bedroom cottage caused Willow to turn her attention from Celeste to Hope, who had just returned from picking Ellie up from school. "Hope, where is Ellie?" She asked the older woman. Although Hope was in her early forties, she didn't look a day past twenty-five which only justified the fact that she was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. Ever seen the first day that they met, Willow knew that she loved her. Not in the same sense that she loved Tara or Kennedy but in the way that a child should love their mother. A feeling that she had never received as a child growing up but one that she was definitely grateful for at this point in her life.

The day that Willow had returned to the steps of the Mother Coven, it had been Hope who had cared for her. It had been made clear to Willow that the other member of the Mother Coven feared her, a feeling that she couldn't hold against them especially with a past such as hers but fortunately for her, Hope hadn't allowed her past to affect the way that she treated the red-headed witch.

"She's pouting in the car. I'm sure that she'll be in shortly. Willow, take a deep breath. You look as though your emotions are getting the best of you. You have dealt with much worse than a child using her abilities." It was obvious to Hope, the moment that she walked into the room, that Willow must have already heard from the headmaster of Ellie's private school. With what was waiting for Willow, later on that evening, she knew that the leader of their coven didn't need the additional stress. And with Celeste in the room, Hope was sure that the young socialite wasn't making the day any easier for Willow. "Celeste, can you accompany me to my cabin? I need your help in preparation for a spell that I hope to do tonight."

"But… Alright, take away the only fun that I've had all day." Celeste replied as she walked out of the room. Even though she had always made it clear that she didn't approve of Willow taking Ellie under her wing, Celeste knew that Willow was their coven leader and what she said went. "And by the way, I'll be leaving tomorrow for a few days. There is a red-carpet show that I want to attend in New York."

"You are to stay with the Coven." Hope stated as she proceeded to make herself a tea. Although Celeste normally left to live out her high society life, Hope knew that the young witch needed to stay, especially with the arrival of their unexpected guests.

Willow couldn't figure out why Hope didn't want Celeste to leave. It wasn't as though they were in the midst of a battle; at least not as of yet. "Hope, she can leave if she wants to. We all need a little fun sometimes."

"I agree with Willow. I do need a little fun and a little time away from the brat." Celeste said, turning to look out the window. Even though she wasn't looking at them, she knew that both Willow and Hope were sending her scolding looks. Celeste was well aware of the fact that both Hope and Willow were much more powerful than she was and although Hope had been one of three leaders for the Mother Coven, Celeste didn't have a doubt in her mind that Willow's power far surpassed all of their abilities combined.

"You're just jealous because I have more power than you. Isn't that the real reason that you hate me?" Ellie asked as she walked into the room, throwing her knapsack onto the counter next to Willow. "And Will, I'm sorry. She just pissed me off." She added, sensing that Willow already knew about her day's escapades.

Knowing that the young witch was her responsibility, it left the discipline in her hands. It wasn't as though this was the first time that they discussed Ellie's improper use of magic but no matter what Willow said, it always seemed to go through one ear and out the other. Willow knew that if Ellie was ever going to learn that Dark Magic was dangerous and should only be used by someone with experience, as a last resort, she needed to use a little tough love. "Ellie, your headmaster called and told me about his desk and chair ending up in the fountain. He also tells me that you were the last person to be in his office. We'll discuss your reasons for being in his office later. Right now, I want to know why you thought that using magic in the middle of the day, around people who have no idea that witches exist... Actually, why were you using magic at all, without me being there with you?"

_I wish that she would just yell at me. Isn't that what mothers or rental-mothers are supposed to do when teens don't listen? No, Willow has to actually make sense. But she doesn't understand, she can never understand. _It wasn't that Ellie hated Willow, she loved her like a big sister, it was just that Willow didn't have any idea who simple magic came to her. She also didn't know how good it felt to use the dark arts and the sense of power that came with it.

It was moments such as this when Ellie missed her mother the most. Her mother would have understood her need to use magic, all magic. She also never would have made her attend a regular school. "I was in class and the teacher told us that religions such as Wicca are fake religions. So I told her to go back to school and learn the truth. I guess that she took offense to that because she kicked me out of her class. I tried to explain to the headmaster that I was only stating my opinion but he has a stick stuck up his ass too because he told me that I was in the wrong from arguing with the teacher. Do you see what I mean? Willow, I just want you to teach me. I know that you can do it, I was told that you did some teaching in high school."

Willow turned to both Hope and Celeste in hopes of figuring out who had divulged that little piece of her past. She knew that it certainly wasn't Celeste because they still didn't know each other well enough for that to have been mentioned. The only matters that they discussed were related totally in Wicca and magic.

And Willow was pretty sure that Hope hadn't told Ellie, especially since Hope feared, just as Willow did, that should Ellie ever figure out Willow's past, they could possibly lose her to the darkness. That meant that there could only be one other person who would have known about the time that she had taught while in high school. "He had no right to tell you that. And I've told you before, you need to be around normal non-magical people that are your age. Being around this kind of life, all the time, can really mess with a person's thinking. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

"Why should I believe a word that you say? I don't even know why my mother left me to you. If she was here right now, she'd be on my side. She understood what it's like to need to use magic, especially black magic. But of course, you don't understand. The closest that you ever been to the Dark Arts is when you exorcised that demon from that human's body, with your mind." Ellie argued before she turned around and stormed out of the room.

From the loud banging on the ceiling, it was clear to Willow that Ellie had run off to her bedroom. But of course before she had left, she just had to divulge one of Willow's secrets to the other members of the coven. Willow knew that both Hope and Celeste could never understand the things that she did when she left to patrol every night. Although they both claimed to no longer believe the teachings of the Mother Coven, that magic was to only be used to worship the Goddess and for protection, Willow still sensed some hesitation on their part in regards to using magic for any other purpose. It wasn't that Willow approved of using magic for simple tasks but she did believe that magic, even the dark arts, was needed in certain circumstances.

"You can exorcise demons with your mind? Now that's cool." Celeste said, clearly impressed with Willow's power. It was obvious to anyone with power that Willow was probably to most powerful Wiccan on this side of the ocean but Celeste wondered just how powerful her leader truly was.

Hope couldn't believe what she had just heard. She knew that Willow still patrolled the streets looking for demons to kill and people to save but she had never expected to hear that Willow was diving into magics that placed her very soul in danger. It was well known, within the Wiccan community, that every time a witch used her power to exorcise a demon from a human, a part of that witch's soul was lost forever. _What if Mr. Giles is coming to encourage Willow to use her new ability? I refuse to let that happen. He'll quickly find out that I'm one witch that does not get pushed around. _

_---***---_

As April walked into the Slayer House, it was clear to her that a new day had begun. Many of the younger slayers were running around in an attempt to get ready for school before the bus arrived to pick them up and bring them to the high school. While most of the older slayers simply lounged around before morning training.

Not wanting anyone to realize that she had just returned, a fact that was clearly obvious due to the fact that she was still wearing the same clothing as the previous night, she wasn't ready to tell them about Gage just yet. As she made her way to her bedroom, she knew that just because the others didn't notice that she was gone, it didn't mean that no one did. April was pretty sure that Kerry was waiting for her especially since they shared a bedroom. "I can't keep lying to her. She deserves to know the truth, especially before we announce our relationship to anyone else."

April knew that it wasn't going to be easy for her best friend to accept her relationship with the hunter, particularly since Kerry was likely the person who despised the demon hunters the most. April didn't totally blame her friend's close-mindedness on her few encounters with them but she did blame Buffy. Buffy seemed to have convinced every new slayer for the past 5 years that anyone who fought vampires and demons, and wasn't a slayer, was putting themselves and others in unnecessary danger.

But surprisingly, Buffy seemed to have been changing her own opinion. There had even been times when she allowed both Giles and Dawn to help with patrolling. April hoped that this recently change in opinion would make her announcement easier for Buffy to deal with.

The moment that April opened the door leading to the bedroom that she shared with Kerry, she knew that something was wrong. Not only was Kerry not in the room but the room had actually been cleaned. In the three years that they had shared a room, April could only remember a couple of times where they had actually been able to see the floor. Normally, the floor was covered with everything from clothing to the latest fashion, gaming and gossip magazines. But now, all of their clothes had been washed, folded and put away while the magazines were neatly piled by topic. All of the clues pointed to one thing, Kerry was really upset about something.

_Where is she though? _April asked herself as she changed into a fresh set of clothes. On any normal day, Kerry would be waking her up in order for the older slayer to drive her to school, saving Kerry from having to take the bus with the other high school aged slayers.

--- *** ---

"So where is Buffy and Giles?" Kerry asked as she placed the last of the dishes remaining from the other slayers, into the sink. Normally, keeping her deal with Dawn, to trade breakfast duty for the previous night's supervision of the younger slayers, wouldn't have been a problem but now it seemed as the world was crashing down around them and the fact that no one else knew, made her nervous. Kerry was well aware of the fact that Giles and Buffy wouldn't want her telling everyone about the return of The First, she had hoped that they would have announced something but instead, Kerry was awoken to the news that both Giles and Buffy had left the country.

Not only had Kerry not told anyone about the things that she overheard while at the watcher's council but she hadn't even had the opportunity to tell her best friend. _April would know what to do. But she's probably too busy with that hunter to care anyways. She didn't even come home last night. _Kerry thought to herself as she began to prepare her own breakfast. On a normal morning, she would have simply grabbed something for both April and herself from Starbucks as April drove her to school but Kerry was still too upset with her best friend to wait for the older slayer to return from wherever she was.

It was obvious to Dawn that something was going on between April and Kerry because she rarely, if ever, saw one without the other. But her mind was too occupied with being left in charge of all of the slayers, along with both Kerry and April, to get in the middle of something that would likely fix itself within the next couple of days. "They left in the middle of the night. They went to Scotland."

"Scotland? Why?" Kerry asked as she began pouring some milk into her bowl. She was now very curious as to why both Buffy and Giles would take off in the middle of the night, without first making some sort of announcement to the slayers about their reasons for leaving. Kerry began to wonder how a trip to Scotland had anything to do with the return of The First.

Although Dawn didn't know exactly the reasons behind their unexpected departure, she was so excited that Buffy and Xander were now back on talking terms and planning on going to see Willow, she just couldn't keep her excitement to herself any longer. "They went to Scotland, with Xander, to go and see Willow."

"Hell must have frozen over if they're all talking again." April stated, announcing her presence in the room. As she walked past Kerry, she eyed the bowl of cereal sitting on the counter while Kerry returned the milk to the refrigerator. "Thanks, Kerr." She said as she grabbed the bowl of cereal.

Seeing that April had taken the breakfast that she had just prepared for herself, which wasn't an uncommon thing for April to do, Kerry simply went to sit at the small table in the kitchen. "What do you think that it means?" She asked Dawn while still refusing to make eye contact with April. _How could she not tell me? She knows my deepest of secrets and yet she still didn't trust me enough to tell me that she was dating someone. _

Simply based on the fact that Kerry continued to avoid looking at her, April knew that Kerry was definitely at the top of her Kerry-is-pissed meter. But April couldn't figure out why. The last thing that she had said to her was that she was going to go get ice cream for them, and she knew that there was no way that that was the reason. "Hey, that's my chair." April declared jokingly, hoping that Kerry would catch on to the fact that she was trying to open the lines of communication between them.

"There's nine other chairs and another 30 in the dining room, just choose another one." Dawn stated, hoping to not have to resolve whatever their issues were, especially when she was so happy that the Scoobies might reunite and there was also the whole fact that she would get to see Willow again. Other than her own sister, there was no one that Dawn had been closest to. Willow was also the one person that Dawn knew still held on to the memory of Tara as much as she did.

Kerry stood up from her seat and just looked at April for a couple minutes, contemplating whether or not she wanted to confront April with what she had seen the previous night and also tell her about the news regarding The First. But in the end, Kerry decided that she would make April wait until she returned home from school before she talked to her again. She felt like April needed to learn that there are definite consequences for lying and keeping secrets, especially from your best friend. Kerry knew that it would be easy to pull April aside before they went patrolling anyways. "Your name isn't on it. But take it; I have to catch the bus anyways." She said before leaving the room.

April hated the fact that whatever had upset Kerry would have to wait until she returned home from school. But as much as it peaked April curiosity, she knew that she had other things to worry about such as the announcement of her relationship with Gage and now the possibility that the Scoobies may be reuniting. April just didn't know which terrified her the most. And it wasn't that April didn't want the Scoobies to make amends but April wondered what the reasons were for why it was happening now. "Did your sister tell you why they left?" She asked Dawn as she sat down to eat her breakfast.

"She only told me that she needs their help with something and that Xander won't help unless Willow agrees to help too." Dawn answered. Although she wouldn't have admitted that to any of the other slayers, April had been there to witness the events that had lead to silence between Buffy, Xander and Willow.

"So Buffy knows about the hunters?"

"Yeah and she didn't seem that upset about it. She even went to Hunters Headquarters to talk to Xander. Can I tell you something?" Dawn asked knowing that April would answer her question honestly.

_Shit, she knows. _April thought to herself, hoping that she was wrong and that Dawn was still clueless about her relationship with Gage. Crossing her fingers, April responded. "Shoot."

Before asking her question, Dawn quickly made sure that they were still alone in the kitchen. "I've occasionally been hunting with Xander, Gage and the other hunters for about three years now. Buffy doesn't know about it and I'm afraid that she'll be pissed at me if I tell her. Do you think that I should tell her?"

After breathing a large sigh of relief, April turned around to face Dawn. Her dilemma was extremely similar to Dawn's. Both needed to admit something to Buffy and yet both were terrified about her reactions to the news, especially when neither of them had intentionally done what they did to hurt her. "It's up to you. But would you rather she find out from someone else or from you?" She answered, silently laughing at herself. _Maybe I should learn to take my own advice._

"I guess that maybe I should tell her, especially now that there's a good chance that Xander might slip up and say something. And actually now that Buffy knows about the hunters, why don't you see if Gage still likes you. He's single and I know that he liked you before everything happened. Why not go for it?" Dawn eagerly mentioned, hoping that her attempt at playing cupid would solidify the bridge between the slayers and the hunters.

As April finished her breakfast, she almost choked on her cereal at Dawn's mention of her and Gage dating. "How about you mention that to Gage and see what he says?" She laughed as Dawn gave her a confused look. "I'm sorry. This is just a really weird day and I think that it's just going to get weirder. So I take it that with our leader gone, we're in charge?"

Still confused by April's initial response, Dawn simply nodded in response. _Does that mean that she wants me to mention it to him? _

"Cool. I'm gonna go round up a few more girls and have a small competition." April announced as she placed her dishes in the kitchen sink before leaving the room, leaving Dawn to wonder what she had meant by a little competition.

Quickly, Dawn stood up and followed the older slayer._ Oh, this can be bad. _

--- *** ---

Gage awoke to the sound of loud bass music coming from the living room. _Nolan must be awake. _He thought to himself as he rolled onto his side to look at his alarm clock. _3pm. Thank God that the shop is closed on Mondays. _He thought to himself, referring to the auto mechanic shop that he co-owned with Xander. Gage was also thankful that Xander hadn't called him and asked him to work for him or rather the second company that they co-owned together, a construction company.

They shared the responsibilities of both companies, the shop being Gage's baby while Xander spent his money from the Watcher's Council on building his own construction company. The simple fact that both businesses were under both of their names was only as a smoke screen in case anyone questioned their nightly activities.

Not only was Gage hiding the hunter part of who he was from the general public, he was also hiding a secret from the very people that he considered his family, everyone other than Xander. _But that's all going to change. _

It wasn't a shock to him that he had awoken up alone in his bed, with the bedroom window left wide open. In the three years that he had been dating April, the previous night was the first night that she had returned to his apartment with him after patrolling. _She must have snuck out after I feel asleep. _He thought to himself with a smile as he replayed the events of the previous night in his head. April had finally agreed to tell everyone about their relationship, allowing him to do the same with the hunters.

"Maybe I should be with her when she tells Buffy?" He wondered out loud to himself. Gage could only hope that should Buffy get upset upon hearing the news, April would stick up for the relationship as opposed to what Kennedy had done and give into the older slayer. "I can't lose another woman that I love to her. I won't let it happen this time."

"What won't you let happen?" Nolan asked as he casually walked into his mentor's bedroom.

Upon seeing Nolan, Gage quickly scanned the room to ensure that April hadn't left anything behind. Much to his luck, she had. Laying next to his bed was her bra. Gage quickly jumped out of his bed and attempted to slowly push it under his bed, with his foot, before Nolan noticed it. "You're twenty years old and you still don't know how to knock on a damn door. Maybe it's time that you look for your own place." Gage snapped, praying that his young protégé hadn't noticed the bright pink undergarment. _This is exactly why she never wanted to stay. He would only need to walk in, unannounced, on us once and shit would have hit the fan._

"Okay, someone woke up with a stick up his ass. Lucy called and wants us to meet her at Headquarters. She told me to tell you that everyone's already there waiting for tonight's patrol routes." He stated, leaning on the bedroom door with a mischievous smile on his face. Although Nolan knew that Gage was a great demon hunter, he wasn't the best when it came to being sneaky. Nolan had seen the bra, on the floor, the moment that he walked in through the door. "So someone had a good night last night. Who was the girl?" Nolan asked. It was then that it occurred to him that he hadn't seen or heard anyone arrive or leave the apartment they shared. But he did notice that the window leading to the fire escape was open. "Was she that bad that you made her leave through the window?" He then asked jokingly.

"Your smart move would be to leave before I make you eat those words." Gage warned as he grabbed himself a t-shirt from the closet. It then occurred to him what Gage had initially said. "Wait. Why is Lucy calling me to give tonight's orders? Where's Xander?"

"He left the country with The Slayer." Nolan answered as he left the room.

--- *** ---

"Ellie, please just come out." Willow patiently pleaded as she continued to try and coax the young witch out of her bedroom, with no success.

"I'm not leaving this room. I'll grow old and die in here before I go back to that school." Ellie declared from the other side of the door.

"I can always smoke her out." Celeste offered from the bottom on the staircase. She was eager to use the newest spell that Willow had taught her but Willow had, unfortunately, placed a barrier at the top of the stairs preventing anyone from bothering her and Ellie.

Willow understood Celeste's frustrations with Ellie. There was even a part of her that was tempted to use magic to get the young witch out of her bedroom but Willow also knew that that would make her a hypocrite. Especially when she discouraged Ellie of the use of all magic for selfish reasons. _I don't know what else to say to her to convince her that I understand what she's going through without telling her about my past. _Willow thought to herself. She knew that she couldn't fully admit to Ellie, the extent of her experience with the dark arts but Willow began to wonder if it was possibly time for her to confide a little more in her charge.

"Celeste, aren't you supposed to be helping Hope with a spell?" Willow asked, hoping that their resident socialite would catch on to the fact that her presence was more of a nuisance than a help.

Celeste couldn't help but laugh because she knew that her presence was never needed for a spell, she didn't have nearly as much power as Hope and Willow. Plus, she now had the world's best excuse for not leaving Willow's cottage. "I can't go do the spell with Hope because she seems a little occupied right now." Celeste responded as she walked up to where Hope was standing. It seemed as though there must have been something outside that was catching the eldest member of the coven because Hope continued to look out the window. "Who is it?" Celeste asked as she spotted the car that Hope had been watching.

** Knock Knock **

"I'll get it." Celeste announced as someone knocked on the door. The moment she opened the door, she was confused.

Normally, anyone entering the property had to pass through the protection barrier that Hope and Willow had placed around the property. But this time, no alarm had gone off to alert them of their guests. The three people who now stood in front of her were total strangers to her. _Why didn't any alarms go off? _She asked herself. _Unless… _She thought, turning her attention to Hope, who was now standing next to her. "You let them through." Celeste accused.

"Celeste, why don't you go get Willow? If I am correct, these guests are here for her." Hope responded. Not wanting to cause Willow alarm, Hope had lowered the barrier permitting their guests to drive up to the small gathering of cottages.

Turning her attention to their guests, Hope decided to formally introduce herself. "Welcome, I'm Hope Thomas. I'm certain that everyone must be exhausted after the flight. Please come in."

"Willow! Hope let strangers into the house!" Celeste yelled up the stairs. When she turned around to meet Hope's scolding look, she responded. "Willow has a barricade up but feel free to try and pass it yourself." Celeste offered with a smile as she turned her attention to their three unexpected guests.

From the second story, Willow was able to hear all of the commotion coming from the lower level as she continued to sit in front of Ellie's door. She was curious to know who Hope had allowed pass through the protection barrier. Normally, anyone driving by the cottages wouldn't be able to find the entrance as it wasn't visible until the protection spell was lowered.

After quickly stretching her legs upon standing, Willow walked up to the top step. She couldn't believe who it was. Willow had had a feeling that this might occur, especially now, but now it was reality; a reality that she was unsure if she was ready to face, again. "How?" Was the only word that she was able form, as she now stood staring at Xander, Buffy and Giles.

End of Chapter.

_Authors' Notes: I just want to thank those who took the time to post a review for the last chapter. I know that there was a long wait for this one but unfortunately I was in the hospital for the majority of January and also lost my muse. But it looks like my muse returned just as February started, so I was able to complete this chap with the help of my awesome co-author Nightwish. _

_I know that it is still soon and most of you aren't quite familiar with the characters but the action is about it start. How will Willow react now that Xander, Buffy and Giles are in her home? Will she agree to help? How will things go between the slayers and the hunters? These questions and others will be answered in the next chapter. _

_Please take the time to post a review letting us know what you think about this chapter? This fanfic? Remember, every single one is greatly appreciated and pushes us to produce a new chapter for you to read._

_And if anyone is interested in reading anything else by Nightwish, I have posted the link to her profile page for you convinence. __.net/u/381889/_


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter. 4 – Eternal Life

"How?" Was the only word that she was able form at the shock of seeing Xander, Buffy and Giles in her home. Slowly, Willow made her way down the stairs, casually waving off the barrier that she had set up at the top of the stairs. _They're here. They are actually here. _She thought to herself as she now stood in front of the people who, despite five years of silence, were still the closest thing that she ever really had to a family.

Unsure as to how to start the conversation, Buffy, Willow and Xander continued to simply stare at each other.

Buffy couldn't believe it, Willow was actually standing right in front of her. _What if she's still mad at me? _Buffy silently asked herself. She understood the reasons why Willow would be but Buffy also knew that there was no way that she could change what had happened that night. Nothing could bring Kennedy back to them, not even Willow's magic. _I wonder if she's ever tried to bring Kennedy back._

It still felt like a dream to Xander. One night, he was cleaning weapons with his wife and the following night, he was on a private jet to Scotland. Now that they were in Scotland, everything still felt so surreal.

Although Xander was happy to see Buffy again, nothing compared to the relief that he felt at seeing Willow. Now that he knew that she was safe, the only thing that he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and never let go. _But is she still our Willow? _He asked himself, refusing to take his eyes off of her. Xander feared that if he did. she would disappear.

Giles watched the three old friends, knowing that it could either be the beginning or the end of what he had worked so hard to maintain. He was pretty sure that Xander and Buffy could easily resolve their issues but Willow was the wild card. "Hello Willow. I know that you weren't expecting us but there's something that you need to know. Something that couldn't be discussed over the telephone." He said, breaking the silence in the room.

"I knew that you would come." Willow admitted, lowering her gaze.

"How did you know?" Buffy asked, finally finding her voice. She was curious to know how Willow was aware of their visit when it hadn't even been decided until Raphael had warned her about The First. "Is it a magic thing?" She asked curiously.

Willow was about to respond when the sound of a door opening, from the second floor, caught her attention. "Ellie, can you please go back into your room?" Willow had spent hours waiting for the young witch to leave the comforts of her bedroom, but now was the wrong time. She needed to know what The Scoobies expected from her and also figure out what these recent change in events meant for her and her coven.

The moment that Ellie heard the new voices, she rushed from her room to see who their visitors were. The only people who ever came to the series of small cottages, in rural Scotland, were members of the Mother Coven. And by the looks of their guests, these people definitely did not belong to the Mother Coven. "I just came out. You can't keep me locked up in there."

"You locked yourself up in your room. Or did you somehow forget that little piece of information?" Celeste chimed in, feeling left out of the conversation. She was also beginning to feel uneasy as the younger of the two men kept looking at her, as though he were trying to figure out where he had previously seen her.

The fact that there were other people in the room hadn't even occurred to Buffy. She turned to look at the young woman who was standing at the top of the stairs. Her dark brown hair was drawn back into a ponytail and she wore what looked like a private school uniform. _She can't be more than fourteen or fifteen years old. I wonder how she fits into Willow's Coven? _She asked herself before turning her attention to the other two women in the room.

The first one, the one who had introduced as Hope, when they had first arrived, was now standing next to Willow. From the look on her face, it was clear to Buffy that this woman was worried and that she also deeply cared for the redheaded witch. The second woman was younger, likely younger than they were and from her accent, it was obvious to Buffy that she was French. _Wow, Willow has really united people from all over Europe. I wonder if there's a reason she has chose them. _

Hope knew that if she didn't step in soon, their guests would likely end up witnessing a demonstration of both Ellie and Celeste's powers. "Celeste, why don't you go back to your cabin and do something constructive? And Ellie, I highly doubt that you completed any of your homework. Please go back to your bedroom and finish it." She hated taking control of any situation from Willow, knowing that the young witch still needed to learn how to be a leader. But Hope also understood that now wasn't the best time for Willow to learn that..

"Fine. I'm going to leave but do not be shocked if I decide, in a moment of boredom, to jet off somewhere." Celeste said as she stormed out of the small cottage, leaving the others to turn their attention to Ellie who was now sitting at the top of the stairs.

Ellie was still curious to know who these new people were. From the way that they looked at Willow and the way that she looked back at them, it was obvious that they all knew each other. She began to wonder if they were more of Willow's mysterious friends from when she lived in the United States. It had only been a year since the first of Willow's old friends had come to live with them. But Ellie didn't complain because out of all of the other coven members, he was the only one who didn't walk on eggshells around her. "I don't have any homework. But can I go and see…"

"Sure. But if he tells you to leave, listen to him and come back over here. Understood?" Willow responded before allowing Ellie to even finish her question. She knew exactly who Ellie wanted to go visit but she didn't want the young witch saying his name in front of the others, at least not yet.

"Oh, he loves me. You're just jealous that he doesn't love you." Ellie stated as she walked down the stairs and out the front door.

It was obvious to the Scoobies that Willow was hiding something. But it seemed as though there was a silent agreement between them to not push Willow to divulge things that she wanted to keep to herself especially since she still hadn't agreed to help them.

"Willow, I think that you should really speak to your friends. How about you go out into the backyard and show them the property?" Hope offered.

"I think that that is an excellent idea. If it is okay with Mrs. Thomas, I'll stay behind with her. That would allow the three of you to catch up." Giles offered. As much as he wanted to follow Buffy, Xander and Willow, he knew that he needed the answers to certain questions before things became even more chaotic with the return of The First. And something told him that Hope had some of those answers. It was now simply a case of whether or not she trusted him enough to divulge that information.

Willow, who still had her gaze locked on both Buffy and Xander, nodded in agreement without averting her eyes. She felt as though if she were to look away, they would disappear and she would be back to being alone. Willow knew that she wasn't technically alone, she did have the constant presence of her coven members but there was still something missing. And she hoped that by possibly having the other Scoobies back in her life, that loneliness would disappear. "I like that idea. Is that okay with you guys?" She asked nervously, unable to read to expressions on their faces.

A wide smile spread across Xander's face when he realized that Willow was not going to kick then out, in anger, for showing up unannounced. But he knew that he shouldn't get his hopes up. Just because Willow had agreed to talk to them, it did not mean that she would agree to help them. "Lead the way." He responded eagerly. Just as he was about to follow Willow down the hall, he noticed that Buffy wasn't behind him. He turned to find her still standing in the exact same spot, as though she was frozen in place. "Buff, are you okay?"

Xander's question snapped Buffy out of her thoughts. She felt as though everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours was finally hitting her; the return of The First, finding out about the demon hunters and also seeing her friends again after five long years. "I'm sorry. I guess that it is a little hard to wrap my mind around everything."

"I guess that it's a good thing that we're going someplace quiet to talk." Willow added, with a small smile, as she walked back over to Buffy's side and wrapped her arm around The Slayer's shoulder.

Deciding to take this opportunity, Xander wrapped his own arm around both women. _At least, one good thing might come out of this. _He hoped to himself, as they left the small cabin.

--- *** ---

As soon as Hope was sure that Willow had left the cabin with her friends, she turned her attention to the gentleman who had chosen to stay behind. "Can I get you a drink? Tea, maybe?" She offered as she made her way into Willow's living room.

"No, thank you. I don't feel as though anything would be able to calm my nerves at this moment. But thank you for the offer." Giles replied as he followed Hope into the larger room. He couldn't help but watch her as she walked ahead of him. She was certainly one of the most beautiful women that he had ever seen, much less spoken to. _What are the chances that a woman as beautiful as she isn't already spoken for?_ "Does your husband live with the coven as well?" But the moment that the words left his mouth, he realized that it was quite a personal question for him to ask someone that he had just met. "I apologize, I shouldn't have asked that question." He continued as he removed his glasses and began cleaning them.

Hope couldn't help but smile as Giles' nervousness was apparent. She wondered what exactly the reason for the uneasiness was. _He's probably anxious about the reasons behind this reunion. _She thought to herself. _Wait, why would it matter if I had a husband? Unless…_ "Mr. Giles, I'm not married nor do I plan on ever getting married. Not many men are willing to accept the life that I choose to live. Witchcraft and this coven are my life and the members of this coven is the only family that I need. And I will protect them with my life. Now that that is established, lets just get right down to business." Hope motioned for Giles to take a seat across from her. Once he was sitting, Hope decided to make her agenda known. "Now, you are going to tell me why you're here and why you brought Buffy and Xander. Willow is like a daughter to me and if this has anything to do what the past that those three share then I want to know about it. Is impromptus visit in relation to a personal matter or business?"

Giles was instantly shocked by Hope's forwardness. And now that he knew exactly where she stood on any matter relating to Willow, it made it a lot more difficult for him to ask the necessary questions. Giles knew that he had to quickly decide how much to tell her about the situation and how much to keep for himself. "It is both business and personal. Buffy, Willow and Xander were as close as three people could be and I believe that they simply needed a little time and a slight push in order to resolve their issues. But on…"

"Wait, issues? Is that what you call the circumstances leading to and including Kennedy's death? Because, in my opinion, it was your slayer's actions that placed the world to be in danger from Willow's wrath for second time. We are all lucky that Willow had the knowledge and ability to figure out that being around Buffy and Xander wasn't a good idea if she wanted to continue having control over her own abilities. When she came to the Mother Coven, in search of sanctuary, she was broken. Not simply heartbroken and grieving from the loss of another love but she had also turned herself off emotionally and physically. So if you're here to ask her to help you with some of the 'issues' that you and your slayers are currently facing, then I am asking you to leave right now and to not return." Hope stated as she stood from her seat, making her way to the large mantel above the fireplace. She took a picture of Willow and Ellie into her hand and stared at it for a couple of minutes, before turning her attention back to Giles to await his response.

Giles was speechless as Hope reminded him that if he had put his foot down with Buffy in relation to accepting Gage's help, he could have possibly prevented Kennedy's death. But unfortunately that wasn't the only thing that had rendered him speechless. As she spoke about Willow, he realized that he had fallen in love with her. It was obvious to him that Hope was a strong woman who was fiercely protective over the people that she loved. But he worried that the love that she felt for Willow could possibly affect Willow's willingness to help in their new fight against The First. _Maybe if I inform her that The First will likely return for revenge against Willow, Hope will be willing to help. _He thought to himself, for a brief moment, before deciding that it was likely their only option. "Mrs. Thomas…"

"Hope."

"Hope, there is a very good chance that Buffy and Xander are already informing Willow on our real reason for this impromptus visit. But before I tell you, I would like to ask you about Willow's state of mind?"

Unsure as to where Giles was actually going with the conversation, Hope decided to proceed cautiously. "What do you mean by 'state of mind'?"

"I would simply like to know if Willow has the ability to fully control her magic. I know that it was something that she was working very hard towards, prior to Kennedy's untimely death but I am uncertain if that event caused a regression in her ability to control those powers." Giles worded very carefully. He did not want to worry the eldest member of the Coven but the return of The First wasn't something that could be taken lightly.

Hope didn't like where the conversation was headed. She was aware that she had to accept the fact that Willow still had deep loyalties to her "family" back in the United States but the conversation now seemed to be moving away from a long-awaited reunion between friends and towards something much darker. And although she wished that their lives didn't involve so much evil and darkness, both she and Celeste knew what they were getting into when they chose to follow Willow as opposed to staying with the Mother Coven. But Hope was well aware that the evils that they faced in the form of vampires and mediocre demons was nothing compared to the darkness that Willow had faced in the past, a past that involved the very people who were now in their midst. _I can feel darkness approaching but he's making it sound as though it may be targeting Willow._ At that thought, Hope's heart began to race and she decided that is was best if she sat back down.

As she covered her face with her hands, she felt someone rest their hand on her shoulder. Hope opened her eyes to see Giles kneeling in front of her and it was clear from the expression on his face he was worried.

"She doesn't have control, does she?" Giles softly asked. _We may have a more difficult fight than we had initially expected against The First. _

"If you are asking me if she has more control over her abilities than she did when she was in America with you, then I would have no idea. But one thing that I can say for certain is that Willow has worked extremely hard to achieve the level of control that she now possesses, just as long as she doesn't test those boundaries. Except that it has recently been brought to my attention that she is in fact pushing the boundaries between the magic that she can easily control and the magic that can cause us to lose her. Are you telling me that something really evil and demonic is coming and that it's coming for her?" Just asking the final question was one of the most difficult things that Hope ever had to do because if it were true, her worst fears were coming true.

Hesitantly, Giles took Hope's hand into his own. It was obvious that Hope thought of Willow as a daughter just he considered Buffy, Xander and Willow as his own children. And as much as something inside of Giles wanted to prevent any harm or pain to come to Hope, he knew that once Willow knew the truth she would need their help which meant that Giles had to tell Hope the whole truth. "The First has returned or is returning and it's going after power which makes us believe that Willow is it's main target…"

--- *** ---

"Okay, I want everyone to take a seat. Before everyone attacks me with questions about where Xander is, let me tell you that I have absolutely no idea and that as soon as I know something then I'll tell you. But until then, we have some work to do." Gage stated as he walked into the locker room of Hunters Headquarters. After a quick headcount, he decided that instead of separating the hunters into two teams, he would simply have everyone hunt as one team.

Normally, there were more hunters who showed up for the nightly patrols but since hunting demons was on a purely voluntarily basis and it was a Friday night, there was no wonder that only 8 other demon hunters, besides himself, Noland and Lucy, showed up. "Okay, we have enough people to make almost a full team but I know that we could still do this without Xander. Does anyone have any ideas where they want to hunt tonight?"

"What about the vamps' nest that you were talking about? You said that we would hit that shit up before we actually patrol tonight." One of the young hunters asked as he loaded the backpack supply of his water gun with holy water.

Gage knew that some of the demon hunters, particularly the younger ones, had been eager to take down a vampires' nest but as he recalled the events of the previous night, he knew that there weren't any vampires left in the abandoned house to dust. "That's a no-go. It's been taken care of. Tonight, we patrol until each of us comes back with a kill."

"Wait! Wait! What happened to the nest? Don't tell me that the slayers did their thing because it wasn't even on their patrolling routes, last night." Nolan asked, suspiciously. The previous evening, Gage had been so eager to bring some of the newer hunters to their first vampires' nest but it seemed as though, he was now simply brushing it off.

It was apparent to Gage that all of the hunters who were present, were asking themselves the same thing. He knew that if they ever found out about how the nest was actually destroyed they would all be extremely upset with him. And he also knew that if Xander would have been there, he would have felt the same. "Like I said, before, it was taken care of."

"Does this have something to do with the chick that you had over last night?" In the four years that Nolan had known Gage, he had learned exactly how to tell when his mentor was lying to him or keeping something from him. And although, he had had no clue that Gage was even seeing anyone before that morning, the fact that he now knew made him suspicious as to whom this woman was.

With the announcement that Gage had been with a woman, loud whispers began to spread among the group of demon hunters. "I want everyone to listen to me. Yes, there is a woman in my life and everyone will know who she is when the time comes. But that is where this conversation ends. I want you to forget about the vamps' nest and concentrate of making sure that Xander regrets missing out on tonight's patrol because now that Buffy knows about us, we have the run of the city. So, I want everyone to help load all of the weapons, even the weapons that we're not using tonight then it will be time to get suited up and we're outta here."

Gage watched as all of the hunters began to prepare for yet another night of patrolling, but there was one hunter who appeared to be lost in her own world. Knowing exactly what the problem was, Gage approached the young hunter. "Hey Luce, ready for tonight?" He asked as he sat next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

Instead of replying, Lucy simply lowered her gaze down onto her hands and slightly shook her head.

"I'm kind of in the dark about what happened last night. Care to fill me in?" Gage asked as he examined his young charge. She was only 16 years old when both her and Nolan came to live with him and Xander. _What a difference four years can make. Four years ago, I never would have thought that Xander and Lucy would be married but they are and now Xander is going to have to figure out a way of making both his life with Lucy and his life as one of the Scoobies mesh into one. I really don't envy him. _He though to himself, noticing the dark circles under Lucy's eyes. It was clear to him that she likely hadn't slept the previous night.

Although Lucy trusted Gage with her life, she knew that his loyalties would always be to Xander and if he had a past with either The Slayer or Willow, she wasn't sure that Gage would be totally honest with her about it. But despite what she thought about Xander's relationship with his former friends, Gage was also his friend and business partner and Lucy knew that he at least deserved to know what had happened to make Xander leave the country. "Last night, The Slayer showed up. She and Xander talked, alone, and then he told me that he was going to Scotland to see Willow."

"Well that's a good thing, isn't it?" Gage curiously asked. Even though Xander rarely ever spoke about his time with Buffy and Willow, Gage knew that he missed it. _He has to miss that life, I know that I do and I was only a part of it for a few months. _

Lucy looked up at him with a look that seemed to ask him if he was crazy. "How is this a good thing? My husband loves two women and I know neither of them."

"You know that the love that he has for Buffy and Willow is totally different then the love that he has for you, right?" Gage asked her. He understood that she was confused with the situation. And even though Lucy had spent the last four years killing any demon that crossed her path, she never came anywhere close to the danger that Xander had faced with Willow and Buffy.

"I don't know anything anymore."

Gage pulled her into a hug and replied. "Well let me tell you. Xan loves you, he married you and he's probably telling all of this to them as we speak. So how about you help me make sure that my car is ready for tonight?"

Lucy smiled and looked up into Gage's eyes, as though she could read his thoughts. But where she had expected to see doubt and lies, she only saw the love that he had for her. "Taking full advantage of Xander being gone?"

"Hey, he's the one who told me that we'd take it for a spin during tonight's patrol. Just because he isn't here it doesn't mean that I'm going to postpone this monumental moment." Gage laughed as he wrapped his arm around the petite hunter, leading her back towards the garage.

--- *** ---

"Yeah, there's something definitely wrong." April mentioned as she spoke into her cell phone.

Gage was surprised that he had managed to sneak away from the other hunters when April had called. Since Nolan had let it spill that he had spent the night with a woman, everyone had begun to watch him like a group of vultures ready to attack their prey once given the opportunity. But fortunately for him, Nolan had accidentally lit the handle of his modified shovel on fire, causing just enough of a scene for Gage to sneak off into his office. "What are you talking about? If this has to do with Buffy and Xander going to Scotland, we have no real information about it on this end. How about you? What do you know about your boss flying to the other side of the world totally unannounced?"

"That isn't what I was talking about. But I don't know much more than you. Dawn told me that Buffy and Xander went to see Willow in Scotland because they need her help with something and that Xander won't agree to help unless Willow does." April answered as she sat on the hood of her car, watching the main doors of Cleveland High. By the time on her watch, she had only three more minutes before school was out for the day.

Gage sat back in his chair and lifted his feet onto the desk. "So it has to be something pretty serious for them to keep all of this secrecy. Have any ideas as to what it might be?"

Becoming frustrated by Gage's total lack of interest in the real reason for her call, April allowed the tone in her voice to grow stern. "Gage, I didn't call you to talk about Buffy or anything to do with slaying. And I trust Buffy, if this is about something really serious, she would have mentioned something. But because she didn't, I have to believe that she left because of a personal matter instead of for slaying business. Now I have a serious problem here and called my boyfriend to talk to him about it."

"Don't you mean your fiancé?" He knew that she still hadn't become accustomed to being engaged but he had at least hoped that she would have begun to refer to him as the person she intended on marrying instead of just some guy that she was dating.

"What?"

He let out his own sigh of frustration. "You meant to say that you wanted to talk to your fiancé about it, right?"

For a brief moment, April imagined that he was standing in front of her so that she could punch him. She was certain that he had known what she had meant and was only trying to be difficult. April raked her fingers through her hair as she wondered if marrying Gage was going to change their relationship. She did love him but if it was going to change, she didn't want to marry him. "Yeah, whatever. Okay, so here it is. I got back this morning…"

"After sneaking out of my place. What time did you leave anyways?"

"Are you going to let me finish or am I going to have to hang up and you can talk to yourself?" She threatened as she watched a few students making their way out of the school. Luckily for her, although a couple of them were slayers, none of them were Kerry.

Not wanting to piss off April more than he already had, Gage decided that it was best to actually listen to what she had to complain about. Even though he knew that it was probably something as mundane as her roommate using her shoes again. "Okay, finish what you were saying."

"Thank you. Okay, as I have been trying to say for the last five minutes, is that when I got back to the Slayer House, this morning, Kerry was in a really bad mood. Barely talking to me and shit. She's mad about something and I have no clue what it is." April quickly spat out before Gage could interrupt her again.

Gage was confused as to how April expected him to answer. Over the last three years, he had heard April mention Kerry is every conversation that they shared but he had yet to meet the eighteen years old slayer. Therefore, he had no idea as to the reasons why she would be mad at April. "Did you talk to her?"

"Did you not hear what I said? She's barely talking to me, like she was but it was kind of through Dawn. This is useless, I'll call you tonight."

Knowing that there was no way to help April, he knew that he was for the best that the conversation end before one of them became so frustrated with the other that they might say something that they would later regret. But there was still one question that he had to have the answer to before he said his goodbye. "Okay, but when do you want to tell everyone about us?"

Just as though it was fate, at that exact moment, April saw Kerry walking out of the school. "We can't do it tonight but how about we talk about it later? Kerry's coming and I think that maybe I should find a way of telling her before we tell everyone else."

"Do you want me to be with you when you tell her?"

"No, I can do it. I love you, you know that right?" April asked as she continued to watch Kerry. It appeared to her as though Kerry was contemplating between taking the bus and catching her usual ride with April.

Gage couldn't help but smile as April mentioned that she loved him. It was something that he always knew even if she didn't always act like she did. And although he had wanted to announce their relationship to everyone as soon as possible, he understood April's reasons for wanting to tell Kerry about it first. "I'll hold you to it and yes, I know that you love me. I love you too. Now go fix things with her." He said before hanging up the phone.

April closed her cell, placing it back in her pocket as she climbed off of the hood of her car and began walking towards Kerry.

--- *** ---

The moment that she had walked outside, Kerry had turned to walk towards April's car as it sat in front of the building just as it had everyday for the past three years. But then Kerry remembered that she was still mad at April for two reasons. The first reason was due to the fact that April had kept her relationship with the hunter a secret and the second reason was that April now seemed so preoccupied with that relationship that she had failed to notice that something seriously bad was about to happen.

"Hey, are you going to talk to me now?" April asked as she now stood in front of the younger slayer.

Kerry folded her arms across her chest and thought about her response for a moment before deciding what to say. "Why are you here?"

"I'm always here at this exact time, everyday. Now let me ask you a question. What the hell is going on with you? Why are you acting like this?" April began to ask in a slightly pleading tone.

_Well, I wouldn't be acting like this if you would never have lied to me. _Kerry thought to herself as she continued to contemplate between the hour long bus ride home or the twenty minutes it would take for April to drive her back to the Slayer House. "I'll take that ride but I don't want to talk about it. Okay?"

Not wanting to argue with her best friend, especially since she had something important to tell her, April simply nodded and made her way back to her car.

Most of the ride back to the Slayer House remained silent. But both women's minds continued to race with thoughts. April remained confused as to her best friend's reasons for being mad at her and the weight of keeping a huge secret from Kerry was beginning to eat away at her. _I can't tell her when she's pissed at me but it isn't like I can do something to fix this when she won't even tell me what I have to fix. It's like she's expecting me to read her mind or something. _She thought to herself as she kept her eyes on the road ahead.

_I just wish that people would stop lying and keeping the truth from me. I trusted both April and Buffy and they both betrayed my confidence. _The younger slayer felt as though she was being pulled into two separate pieces. She knew that she didn't have the guts to confront April about her relationship with a hunter and she also knew that it wasn't her place to announce the return of The First to everyone. That last one was up to Buffy, should she ever return from Scotland. Feeling as though she might explode, Kerry decided to break the thick silence that filled the car. "I know why Buffy left."

"Yeah, I do too. She's going to see Willow." April responded as she continued to drive. _Okay, step one complete. She's talking to me again but is this why she's mad? What does Buffy's sudden trip across the world have to do with me? _

Not knowing exactly how to phrase what she wanted to say, Kerry decided that it was best just to say it. "She left because she found out that The First is back. Or coming back." The moment that the words left her mouth, the car came to a sudden stop.

April was glad that, in her shock, she had pressed on the brakes instead of the gas pedal. She couldn't believe what her best friend had just said. She turned to look at Kerry, praying that she had only been joking in order to break the tension between them. And if it had been a joke, it wasn't a funny one. But the look on Kerry's face made it clear to April that she wasn't joking and that she fully believed in what she had just stated. "How? I mean, how do you know?"

It wasn't that Kerry wanted April to think that she wasn't mad at her anymore but with all of the stories that she had heard about The First, she knew that its return was a lot more important. "I overheard Buffy telling Giles about it. That's why they left to go find Willow."

_Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! _April kept saying to herself as she put the car back in drive and continued in the direction of the Slayer House. Although she hadn't been a part of Sunnydale's final battle, she had witnessed how it had affected each and every person involved since she was one of the first new slayers to move into the Slayer House when the Scoobies had initially moved to Cleveland. Every single person who survived had lost at least one person that they were close to because of The First and now that it appeared as though the battle wasn't actually over; April couldn't help but wonder who she would lose.

Kerry couldn't help but wonder what was going through April's mind. The older slayer had remained totally silent since she had informed her about The First. And normally, Kerry would have welcomed the silence, especially coming from someone who often enough didn't know the meaning of the word but it was obvious that silence in this case wasn't a good thing. "Buffy should have told us about it before she left. What if it was to come after one or all of us while she's gone?"

"Buffy must have her reasons and we as slayers have to trust that she does what she feels is in our best interest. And from what I've learned about The First, yeah, it may come after us but I doubt that we're its main target. It's probably back for revenge on Buffy and the Scoobies." April replied as she pulled her car into her parking space. "How about we try and forget about it until Buffy tells us for sure. Maybe she was just telling Giles about a rumor that she'd heard from the demon underground. Is that why you were mad at me?"

"No." Kerry answered simply as she grabbed her bag from the backseat and made her way out of the car, throwing the bag over her shoulder as she closed the car door behind her.

"Now I'm confused." April said aloud to herself as she watched Kerry make her way through the front doors of the Slayer House. "I wonder if she'd snap at me if I tell her that her backpack is ripped?"

--- *** ---

Once inside, Kerry quickly made her way to the weapons room. She knew that it was likely the only place that she could have some privacy from April and everyone else. As she entered the room and shut the door, she leaned against the door, allowing herself to slide down to the floor. _How am I supposed to just sit here and pretend like nothing is happening? I know that I should listen to April and wait for Buffy but… _"Urgh, this sucks cause I feel like I can't trust anyone anymore." She finished her thought out loud, not realizing that she was the only person who had decided that they needed some privacy.

"Who can't you trust?" The person asked.

Kerry jumped as the person responded. She looked up to see Dawn sitting, alone, at the head of the large meeting room table which sat in the center of the room. Normally, the room remained deserted until all of the slayers were given their nightly patrolling orders which was exactly why Kerry often spent her alone time in the room, polishing her katana or playing with her handheld gaming console.

"I'm sorry. Did I scare you?" Dawn asked as she moved from her chair and took a seat next to Kerry, on the floor.

"No. Well, kind of." Kerry laughed. "I just didn't expect to find anyone in here. Usually it's empty. Why are you in here?"

"I was in here taking an inventory of all of the weapons and I guess that I just got sidetracked. To be honest with you, I love being a watcher-in-training but I just wish that I could be more involved with the patrolling part." Dawn confessed, knowing that Kerry was probably one of only people who could actually keep a secret. "I know that you hate hunters, but I guess I'm saying that sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be both a watcher and a hunter."

Although Kerry knew that she could never understand what it was like to be Dawn especially when the young watcher lived everyday among slayers, her own sister was The Slayer and yet Dawn kind of lived her life on the side-lines of theirs. It was for those reasons that Kerry looked up to Dawn, she worked her hardest knowing that she would likely never receive the credit that she actually deserved. "But you can understand why Buffy wouldn't want you in the midst of battle, right?"

"She's afraid that I might get hurt. Yeah, I understand that. But this is my life and shouldn't I have a right to live it like I want?" Dawn wished that she and Buffy had the type of relationship where she could discuss these things with her sister but unfortunately Buffy had put her foot down a long time ago. "Okay, how about we forget about all of my melodramatic problems and talk about why you're trying to hide in here. April?"

For a brief moment, Kerry wondered if she was that transparent until she realized that it must be pretty obvious to everyone that something was going on between her and April, especially since they were rarely ever apart. "Well, she is the one that I'm hiding from but it's not the only thing bothering me."

"Want to talk about it?"

"I think that is just something that I want to keep to myself for now. But thank you for offering to listen." Kerry responded as she placed her game back into her bag.

Dawn continued to watch the young slayer. There was something definitely different about this slayer compared to the others but Dawn couldn't pin point what it was. When the majority of the other slayers were gossiping about boys, reading magazines such as Seventeen and spending hours on their appearances, Kerry could often be found playing her video games or polishing her katana. "How did you rip your bag?" She asked curiously, knowing that the bag hadn't been ripped a couple of days prior.

Before Kerry could respond, April walked into the room followed by the young slayers. Both Dawn and Kerry quickly stood up before being trampled by the thirty-odd girls that now filled the room. "There you guys are, we have to set patrolling teams now cause we only have like a half hour before sunset." April stated as she took a seat in what was normally considered Buffy's chair at the head of the table. "Everyone is to stay with their regular teams. Just because Buffy isn't here it doesn't mean that you can play musical chairs, so to speak."

"Who made you the boss?" Paige asked, just itching to start some trouble with the older slayer. It was clear to her that something was going on between April and Kerry and Paige thought that it was the perfect opportunity to really piss April off since it wasn't likely that Kerry would interfere.

April couldn't help but laugh. "Brat, today is not the day that you want to pissme off. But hey, if you want to; have a go at it."

Dawn turned to Kerry waiting for the slayer to intervene between her two teams members but when Kerry simply continued to spin her chair in circles, Dawn decided to take the initiative. "Paige, it isn't something new for Buffy to put April and me in charge when she leaves. And April, Buffy doesn't want you flying off of the handle when she's here so don't do it when she isn't." She then turned to the other girls in the room and continued on with what April had begun saying. "Everyone is to stick to their regular patrolling teams. But there is one problem, with Buffy gone, we're missing one person out of your team, April. So what do you want to do?"

But before April could reply, Paige chimed in. "Andrew can join our team. He's a watcher-in-training so this gives him the chance to train in the field." She said, turning to Andrew with a smile as he continued to film her with his video camera.

"Yeah, that's the smartest move to make. We'd spend more time saving his sorry ass instead of actually killing vamps." April responded in laughter. She was laughing so hard that she nearly fell out of her chair which caused the majority of the other girls to begin laughing as well.

Through all of the laughter, Kerry decided to speak up. "Even though April has a point, we do need someone else on our team. I think that Dawn should take that place." The moment that she mentioned Dawn's name, the room instantly grew quiet. "What?" She replied as everyone turned to look at her.

Dawn couldn't believe what Kerry had just said. Although it was something that she had admitted to Kerry that she had wanted to do, she had never expected to be given the opportunity. But one thing stood between her staying behind as a watcher and her actually going out to do a little slaying with the slayers.

For a moment, April thought about Kerry's suggestion. There were pros and cons to having Dawn patrol with them. In her cons list, if something were to happen to Dawn, Buffy would certainly take it upon herself to make sure that April never saw the light of day again. But on the other hand, in the pros list, Dawn did have more experience in battle than some of the younger slayers. And from the look on her best friend's face, it was obvious that Kerry believed in Dawn. "I know that it might not be your thing, Dawn. But if you want to join our team until your sister returns, it's alright by me."

"I'd love to…." Dawn began saying until she was interrupted by Paige.

"Why the hell is Dawn allowed to come when Andrew can't?"

April decided to ignore Paige's comment and after quickly checking her watch, she stated. "Everyone has ten minutes to get ready and out of here. Suit'em, boot'em and strap'em." Instantly, all of the other slayers got up off of their seats and began grabbing their favorite weapons. When she was sure that neither Kerry nor Dawn were paying attention to her, she looked at Paige, who was now glaring at her, and stuck out her tongue.

--- *** ---

Lucy and Nolan walked slightly ahead of their group of hunters, weapons still in hand. That night's patrol had gone well, with everyone dusting a least one vampire each. The sun would soon be rising, and they were cutting through Industrial Valley to get back to Head Quarters, chatting loudly. As the sky began to lighten, they knew that all of the vampires would be heading below ground before it was too late. Shadows began to lift, and street lights seemed to dim as the dull grey sky brightened with each passing minute, the cool air starting to warm slightly.

"I look like I've been rolling around in a pile of Vamp dust." Nolan was complaining, dusting off his shirt for the fifth time in the past twenty minutes.

"That's because you have." Lucy teased as her brother pushed a hand through his hair and pulled a face as he inspected the grey powder now covering his palm. Nolan then choked as Lucy's arm snapped out and rammed into his stomach to halt him instantly, crushing the air from his lungs.

"What...?" He wheezed, struggling to suck air in. Lucy's eyes were straight ahead, flashing fiercely as they focused on something further down the alley way. Nolan followed her gaze, and narrowed his eyes as he caught sight of the three hulking demons blocking the narrow path between the buildings.

"Trouble." Lucy murmured, as the other Hunters fanned out behind her, weapons ready to fire.

The demons were huge, standing well over six feet tall, towering walls of muscle. Their eyes were deep set and blazed orange, like smoldering coals, in their sockets, lips pulled back from large glistening fangs as each demon gave a low rumbling growl. In the gloom, the hunters could see the demons' pale skin was tinted faintly green, stretched over vast frames. Their faces were vaguely humanoid, with heavy brows and pointed ears, manes of jet black hair. They held no weapons except for their own hands which were like huge black knives.

"Sis, I think that trouble might be an understatement..." Nolan said, his gut feeling as though it were filled with snakes that twisted anxiously. He glanced at Lucy, but her face was devoid of expression, even her eyes hiding any feeling. _Right_, he thought, _'cause, if the enemy knows your emotions, he has a way of getting to you..._ He looked back at the Demons, wondering if they were smart enough to figure that out.

The hunters hung back, waiting for the demons to attack first. They held their weapons ready, wooden stakes pushed into belts as heavier, sharper weapons were clearly going to be needed.

"What are they?" One of the hunters asked from behind Nolan.

Nolan turned his head slightly, eyes never leaving the demons. "Dunno, but I think that we're about to find out." He muttered in response. The demons growled again and slowly began to move towards the humans, heavy feet thudding ominously against the mud-covered ground. Oddly enough the demons were dressed in what would be considered human clothing, jeans and t-shirts. It might even have been amusing had the hunters not been seconds away from being shredded.

Lucy slowly drew in a deep breath, adjusting her grip on her silver plated Sai. "Get 'em!" She yelled, and threw herself forwards. The eleven other trained hunters rushed after her, shouting as they raised their weapons. The sudden racket threw the demons off for a few precious seconds, allowing the hunters to lay into them and surround them. But then the demons began swinging heavy limbs and slashing with frighteningly sharp claws, roaring menacingly. Nolan gasped as one demon gripped the wide blade of another hunter's sword in his claws, and tore it from the man's hands, shattering the blade easily, as though it were made of brittle plastic. Hunters were cast aside like rag dolls, striking the hard walls either side of the alley.

Lucy gave an angered growl as one of the demons shook off the hunters attacking him and went to disembowel a young male hunter lying semiconscious a short way from him. She spun her sai in her hands and leaped at the high wall on her left and vaulted off, landing on the back of the demon and slamming her sai down, either side of his neck. The demon gave an agonized howl, reaching back to pull the weapon out, but Lucy simply jerked this way and that, widening the wounds, moving out of reach, until the creature fell with a deafening crash, Lucy crouched on his back.

"Wasn't so hard, was it?" She grumbled at the hunter who now stood gaping at her. Her head whipped round as she heard her brother shout. He was pointing up at the rooftops.

"Slayers!" He cried. Lucy raised her eyes to see a large group of slayers and she scowled as the women joined the fight on the ground, finding various ways down. The hunter narrowed her eyes as the crossbow-wielding slayer began shouting orders.

"Protect the wounded, get them away," she told three of the girls, waving them off, "And you, you guys make sure the demons don't escape." She looked at the short, dark haired women on her right, and then to the younger woman on her left, with long blonde hair. "We're takin' those bastards down." She smirked. Lucy blinked as the short one gripped the handle of her katana and drew it in the blink of an eye, the blade flashing dangerously in the grey light.

April swiftly scaled back up the fire escape ladder leading from the rooftop of one of the buildings to get a better view of the fight below. The huge demons were strong, fast and tough, but a headshot from the rooftop would most likely be enough to bring them down. However, as she reached the top of the ladder, she noticed a small patch of fabric shifting in the cool morning breeze, caught in the sharp wires of a fence separating two sections of the long, flat rooftop. It stirred a memory in the back of her mind, and she all but forgot the fight below. _Kerry..._ She frowned. Why would it make her think of Kerry...? The sudden bitterness from the young Irish girl.

April crossed the cracked concrete slowly and reached out for the patch of cloth, rubbing her thumb over it before tugging it loose. Her eyes widened as she recognized it-it matched the patch missing from Kerry's bag!

"Shit!" The roar of a car engine announced Gage's Vampire killing vehicle charging into the alley and April whirled, stuffing the fabric into the back pocket of her trousers and rushing to the edge of the roof and looking down. Harsh light flooded the area from his headlights, black chrome gleaming dangerously. The windows were blacked out, but April knew that Gage sat behind the wheel, ready for action. Three huge wooden stakes, four inches thick, were bolted to the hood, ready to ram unsuspecting vampires.

Kerry, Paige, and some of the hunters were bringing down the second demon when April slid down the ladder and leaped onto the roof of Gage's car. He opened the sun roof and she dropped her feet inside, standing there while she aimed her crossbow at the last demon, as his comrade died with loud howl of rage and pain.

Through the chaos of the fight, the slayers took control of the situation easily. Red was the only thing that Lucy could see. The fight belonged to the hunters, yet here were the slayers interfering with everything and doing a better job at defeating the demons than they did. "What the Hell do you think you're doing?!" She snapped, barging her way through the fight, ducking under the claws of a fourth demon. "This is _our_ fight, Slayer!" She jabbed a finger angrily at Kerry, who in return knocked her hand away with slightly more force.

"Don't touch me!" Kerry spat before running to the aide of an injured slayer.

Outraged at being dismissed, Lucy took one step forwards to go after her as her feet left the ground. With a startled shout, she dropped her sai to tear at the claws locked painfully tight around her chest. She was swung round by the last demon, held up to shield his body, just as the slayer in charge released her second bolt from her crossbow.

April's jaw fell open in horror, the bolt she had fired whistling through the air right towards Lucy's chest. And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"No!" She yelped, struggling to get out of the car in a panic.

As Lucy squeezed her eyes shut against impending doom, and ceased to struggle, Paige ran towards a wall, taking several quick steps up, pushing off into midair and twisting round. She cannoned right into the side of the demon knocking him off balance. The three of them toppled to the ground, the bolt sailing harmlessly overhead.

The hunter gave a loud 'oof!' as Paige landed on top of her and both slayer and hunter rolled as one to get away from the snarling demon. As the two women raised themselves, they heard a loud 'schnik' and looked up to see Kerry standing with one foot on the demon's neck, her blade buried in the back of his head as black blood began to pool around its head. She wrenched her sword free with her ice blue glare aimed directly at April. The alley was silent as she turned on her heal and marched smartly out of sight.

--- *** ---

"So you're telling me that in order to finally defeat The First, a witch whose magic is rooted in darkness has to bring back, from death, a witch whose magic is rooted in pure white magic?" It wasn't as though Willow hadn't figured out what the general idea of what Buffy was saying but she continued to hope that she was wrong.

Xander had watched as Buffy told Willow about the "dream" that she had had where Raphael warned her about the return of The First. And as every moment passed, he saw how the reality of the situation changed Willow's demeanor from happy to probably one of the most serious looks that he had ever seen.

"Exactly. It's not guaranteed to be a sure-fire thing but it's our only hope right now. I hate to ask this, Will, but can I count on you to be in?" Buffy asked as she continued to pace back and forth. She hated herself for staying out of touch with both Xander and Willow for so long that it took The First's return in order to bring them back together. And not that that was bad enough but now she had to ask her closest friend to tear Tara out of heaven.

"Buff, I don't think that it's fair for you to ask Will to do this. Not only does it mean bringing someone back from the dead, which if you remember isn't a good thing, but you're asking her to use really bad magic again. Not a good thing." Xander stated in Willow's defense.

Willow stood up from her seat and turned to face the rolling hills behind them. _I should have known that something like this was going to happen. The First is the definition of evil. How much worse can this get? Oh No, I shouldn't have asked that. I probably just jinxed myself. _She thought to herself before finally forming an answer to Buffy's question. "I've missed you guys so much and I hope that you understand why I had to leave Cleveland in the first place. But I've worked so hard to be where I am now with my magic and with my coven. I'm finally happy again and talking to the two of you makes it so much better. But in the end, I can't help you."

Buffy felt as though her legs were about to collapse from under her. Slowly, she lowered herself to sit on the ground.

Standing between the two women that he still loved more than anything, Xander was unsure as to whom he should console. On one side was Willow and although she had kept her back to them while she had said no, it was clear to him that she was upset about having to say no. But on the other side, Buffy looked like she had lost all hope. Willow had been their only hope to finally ridding the world of The First but now Buffy was even further from doing that than she had initially been.

As the silence grew between them, Willow turned to the others. "I understand if you guys want to leave and never speak to me again..." She began saying until Buffy interrupted her.

The instant that Willow had mentioned them leaving, Buffy knew that that was not something that she was willing to do. She knew that without Willow's help they would likely lose this battle but for the first time in a long time, the pain of that thought didn't come anywhere as close to the pain that she felt when she thought about going even another day without both Willow and Xander in her life. "Don't be ridiculous, Will. I think that I can speak for the both of us when I say that we're not going anywhere without you."

"But I understand, I really do. It's just that it wouldn't be fair to anyone, especially Tara, if I bring her back only to ask her to fight for her life and our lives again." Willow attempted to explain without going anymore in depth into her actual reasons for not agreeing to help.

"Willow, you know that you're my best friend and always will be but let me play devil's advocate here." When both women shot Xander the same intense look, he couldn't help but let out a short laugh before he continued with what he was saying. "Okay, maybe it was a wrong choice of words but you know what I mean. I'm just saying that Tara didn't have a chance to face her death or even fight for her life. But by bringing her back, you're giving her that choice."

End of Chapter

Author's Notes: Okay, here is another long awaited chapter and things are hopefully starting to get interesting for you. And as the story develops, I hope that it will be as excited for you as it is for both my co-author, Nightwish, and again, I would like to thank you for all of her creative input for this fanfic. I would also love to thank every single person who took the time to post a review. It is because of you that I love writing this fanfic so much. Especially as I eagerly anticipated how you guys will react to different scenes. Please keep them coming. Let me know which storyline you love, would like to see or even which characters you'd like to read more about.

A big thank you to everyone for reading this fanfic! :)

P.S. To fans of The L Word: "Who the hell killed Jenny?" :P


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter. 5**

"But by bringing her back, you're giving her that choice." It wasn't that Xander was trying to push Willow into agreeing to help them but if she was still the same Willow that he used to know, she likely hadn't thought of it from that point of view. And from the expression on her face, he was right.

_How can I even be considering this? Why would I want Tara to see the darkness and death that I saw when we first battled The First? She doesn't deserve to see that, no one does. But I don't see another way around it. _Willow felt as though she was losing her mind. _Tara, I don't know what to do. _She pleaded, silently, hoping that somewhere in heaven Tara would be able to hear it.

There were so many things being asked of her and Willow wasn't sure how to answer them when she wasn't sure of the right answers. She didn't know if she should follow her heart and leave Tara rest in peace or follow what her mind was telling her which was that telling her that bringing one person back from the dead in order to save billions of others was a no-brainer. Initially, the decision to stay out of this battle had seemed like the best choice for both her coven and for Tara. But as she continued to think about what Xander had just said, she began to wonder if she had made the wrong decision. She just hoped that Tara would be able to forgive her no matter what she chose to do. Willow turned around in search of Buffy when she noticed that The Slayer was still sitting in the exact same place and appeared to be totally lost in her own thoughts. "Buffy…"

The Slayer's head snapped up at the sound of her friend's voice. But she didn't trust her voice not to break in the devastation that she felt. Buffy felt as though her actions, five years prior, likely lead to Willow making the decision to stay out of the battle, which also meant that Xander wouldn't likely be offering his assistance either. Therefore in response, she simply nodded to acknowledge the fact that she had heard Willow.

"I've worked so hard for all of this." Willow began, motioning towards the cabins. "When I left Cleveland, I left with nothing but the clothes on my back and a couple of other personal items. And I know that this isn't much and nothing compares to everything that you have set up for the new slayers but this coven is my life and I'm not ready to give it up…"

"I'd never ask you to give that up." Buffy stated, interrupting Willow.

From the look on her face, Xander could tell that Willow hasn't finished talking before Buffy had cut her off and something told him that they most likely wanted to hear what she had to say. "Buff, she wasn't done talking."

Willow offered Xander a small smile in thanks before she continued. "I love it here and this is where Ellie goes to school. Our lives are here…"

"Willow, we understand. I'm not mad. You've made a life for yourself here in Scotland and I can't expect you to drop everything to fight in a fight that isn't yours anymore." Buffy replied, yet again interrupting Willow.

"I don't think that you do. I'm saying that I've changed my mind. I need to protect my coven and the only way of making sure that they stay safe is by finally defeating The First. And this is my fight. The First is targeting the people that I love and care about the most. So I'm in." Willow finished with a smile, knowing that it must have been a great relief to both Xander and Buffy.

The minute that Buffy heard the words 'I'm in', she jumped up in excitement and ran over to Willow, causing both of them to fall onto the ground with the force of the hug. And without a moment's notice, Xander joined them on the ground as a fit of laughter broke out amongst them.

For the next few minutes, they simply all laid on their backs looking up at the sky. Xander was the one who chose to break the silence. "So Will, I guess that we should hope that motorcycle-riding demons don't interrupt the spell this time? And just to let you know, I'm not looking forward to seeing you puke up a snake again."

_Wow, the spell. I hadn't even thought about how I'm actually going to do this. _She thought to herself as she sat up.

"Puking up a snake?" Buffy asked, slightly disturbed by the image that it had brought to mind. That was one detail that Buffy didn't remember hearing about after Willow had brought her back from the dead. But then Buffy imagined that there must have been quite a few things about that night and the months leading up to it, that she was still oblivious about.

"It was a test." Willow replied. "But I can't do that spell again. This time, I have to try something different, especially since we don't have Tara's body to work with. I know of a spell that could maybe work but I don't remember the exact words or list of ingredients that I'll need. I was kind of busy sucking all of that information out of the dark arts books and turning all dark and veiny."

--- *** --- Next Day --- *** ---

"Oh my god, I can't believe it. When are you guys coming back?" Dawn screamed excitedly into the phone as she began dancing around her bedroom. She couldn't believe that her life could possibly go back to the way that it was before Kennedy died. _It was the last time that I was happy. It was also the last time that my sister actually acted like a sister. _But now she had hope that everything was going to be okay and even if it wasn't, she knew that it would at least be better with Willow and Xander's return to the Slayer House. The future looked bright, except for one thing, Dawn still had no idea why Buffy went to Scotland in the first place.

Buffy couldn't help but smile at Dawn's excitement. Her younger sister had always been close to both Willow and Xander, leaving Buffy to pray that in the end, they could all be a family again. But that was only going to happen if they defeated The First and managed to survive. "I guess that I don't need to ask you if you're happy about this." She laughed. "Actually, we should be back just before it's time to patrol tonight. But there's something that I need you to do for me?"

"Isn't there always?" She retorted, sarcastically, with her own short laugh.

Although Buffy knew that Dawn was simply joking, she was actually right. As of late, Buffy had become aware of the fact that she often had Dawn do things for her and yet did nothing for her sister in return. _But that's the past. Now, I have to find a way of making things up to Dawn and try to fix things with Xander and Willow. _Except Buffy knew that the first thing that needed to be done was for them to find the spell; the spell that Willow needed in order to bring Tara back. "I need you to do some research. We need all the information that you can find on something called the Valentine spell."

"You need me to find you a love spell?" Dawn asked, totally lost as to what her sister actually wanted her to do. She knew that since Spike's death, her sister had closed herself off to any type of romantic relationship but Dawn knew that her sister didn't need a spell to help her find love; she only needed to open herself up to the opportunity again.

_I'm The Slayer; I don't need a love spell. I need a full love intervention. _Buffy thought to herself. Some of the new slayers had been lucky enough to find love and some of those relationships actually looked as though they may work out but Buffy was certain that love wasn't in her future. After her disastrous relationship with Angel, Riley then Spike, she resolved to live her life solitarily, devoting all of her energy to making sure that the new generation understood their responsibilities as vampire slayers.

Except somewhere along the way, she went wrong and ended up creating slayers who believed that they were actually superior to the average person. And it wasn't hard for Buffy to figure out when everything began to snowball downwards. With the death of so many untrained potentials during their first battle against The First, she realized that maybe slaying should be left in the hands of trained slayers so that more innocent people didn't die. And not counting The Scoobies, her plan seemed to be working at least for their first month in Cleveland. That was until Gage Dukes, a self-named demon hunter, offered his assistance. Despite the fact that Buffy liked him as a person, as did everyone else, she didn't like the idea of someone without any type of special abilities or formal training intentionally putting their life in danger. But unfortunately, Kennedy had taken a liking to the young man and often invited him to join her while she patrolled. That was until, one night, Buffy put her foot down and prohibited Kennedy from taking Gage with her, which also happened to be the same night that Kennedy never made it back from patrolling.

"Buffy, are you still there?" Dawn asked, slightly concerned with the silence at the other end of the phone. She quickly checked her cell to make sure that they hadn't been disconnected before she began to wonder if perhaps she shouldn't have questioned her sister's request.

Instantly, Buffy snapped out of her thoughts. _I really have to start paying more attention before this daydreaming gets me in trouble or worse, dead. _"Yeah, I'm here. It isn't a love spell. I guess that this guy, Valentine, was deep into the dark arts which is why he named this spell after himself. If you ask me, this guy must have had one huge ego…"

"Why do we need information on a dark arts spell?" Dawn asked, interrupting her sister. "Is that why you went to see Willow? You need her to do a spell?"

Buffy wasn't sure how much she should tell Dawn over the phone. She knew that she couldn't keep The First's return a secret for much longer but she was also aware that telling her sister about it over the phone wasn't likely the best way to go. "Can't you just do what I'm asking you to do? I'm your big sister, you shouldn't argue with me."

"I'm not one of your slayers and because you're my big sister, I have every right to argue with you, especially when I think that you're about to do something stupid. We just got Willow back, I haven't even seen her yet, and you want her to do a spell that involves black magic. Does Xander agree with this? And am I the only person who remembers what it's like to be around Dark Willow?" Dawn couldn't believe it, but then it hit her. She knew that Buffy loved Willow and wouldn't intentionally put Willow in danger unless it was their last resort. "Buffy, what's going on? I know that there is something that you're not telling me. So, tell me."

"I'll explain everything tonight when we get back. But finding this spell is really important and we can't do anything until we find it. So can I count on you to organize the girls and the other watchers-in-training into research teams?" Buffy replied, hoping that the flight back to Cleveland would give her enough time to figure out how to announce the news to everyone.

Dawn now knew that something serious was definitely going on and despite the fact that she had no clue what it was, at least Buffy wasn't going to treat her like a child and keep it from her. Dawn figured that Buffy probably wanted more time to discuss the matter with Giles, Willow and Xander before she made any decisions like telling anyone else. But at the same time, Buffy was trusting her to not only manage the slayers during her absence, but she was also depending on Dawn to get things moving with the search for the spell. _I wonder what this spell actually does? _She thought to herself before turning her attention back to her cell phone. "Yeah, I'll do it. Be safe, okay? And give Willow a big hug for me."

"I can do that. But what about Xander? I think that if I hug Will for you, he might get a little jealous." She laughed, relieved that her little sister wasn't going to push the topic of the spell or the reason for their need for it.

"Tell him that I gave him his hug, last…" _Shit! _Dawn thought to herself after she realized that she pretty much allowed the fact that she has been in constant contact with Xander, to slip out. "Oh, I have to go. I love you. Bye." She quickly added before she hung up her phone.

Buffy couldn't believe that her sister hung up on her. _I'm not the only one hiding something. I think that Dawn's keeping a secret too and something tells me that Xander might know what it is. But this doesn't fit especially when we haven't seen each other in five years. Unless…_That was when it hit her. _Dawn knew that Xander was in Cleveland, this whole time, which means that she also knew about his hunters. _

After taking a couple of deep breaths, in an attempt to relax, Buffy took a seat at the head of Willow's kitchen table as she patiently began to wait for Willow and Xander. While she had chosen to call Dawn, they remained upstairs in Willow's bedroom, most likely discussing the challenge that they now faced. _If we're going to work together, I think that we should all start being honest and Xander's definitely going to have to be honest with me when it comes to my sister. She might be a watcher-in-training but she's not one of his hunters and I won't let her fight in this fight or any other._

--- *** ---

April glanced down at the caller i.d. on her cell phone as it rang again for the twentieth time. _Gage. _The caller i.d. read. _I can't deal with him, right now. I need to talk to Kerry, but where is she? _She thought to herself and she glanced over to the empty bed next to hers.

After the previous night's fight that ended with her almost killing a hunter by mistake, April returned to the Slayer House to wait for Kerry, who clearly had still been so upset with her that the younger slayer had stormed off immediately after the fight. The only thing that April was grateful for was that at least now she knew why her best friend was mad at her; Kerry knew about her relationship with Gage. _She must really hate me for keeping this a secret from her. But I have to explain my reasons for not telling her about it before now, that's if she ever comes home. _

It was at that exact moment that April's attention was drawn to the doorway as Kerry walked into the room. After a quick glimpse at the clock, April eyed her friend up and down. "It's 10am and you look like shit."

_Great! I really didn't want to have to deal with this right now. _Kerry thought to herself, dreading having to talk to April when the only thing that she wanted to do was go to sleep. "Thank you for stating the obvious. I didn't expect you to be here?" She said as she began to take off her clothes, which were covered with a mix of ash and blood. Thankfully, none of the blood was her own.

"Why wouldn't I be here?" April asked as she continued to watch Kerry make her way around the room, grabbing the items that she would need in order to take a shower.

Kerry couldn't help but roll her eyes at April's question. _I can think of one reason why you wouldn't be here and it's probably the same reason that you didn't come home the night before last._

April took a deep breath before continuing. She knew that based on Kerry's lack of response, she wasn't going to make this easy for her. "I have something that I want to talk to you about. And I have a feeling that you already know what it is and that's why you were a bitch to me, yesterday."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

April took the patch that had been ripped from Kerry's backpack and held it up for the Irish slayer to see. "This says that you're lying to me."

_Caught. _Kerry thought to herself. She knew that she was wrong for following April, the other night, but her intentions hadn't been to spy on April. She was worried about her best friend and mentor but it had soon after become apparent to her that April didn't need her protection. She knew that her bag had been ripped that night but she hadn't expected April to find it.

"I know that I should have told you about me and Gage. But I know how much you hate hunters and I guess that I just didn't want to have to choose between my best friend and the man that I love." April continued as she attempted to explain her actions.

After a couple of moments of silence, Kerry had finally figured out what to say and how best to say it without hurting or offending April. She set her things down on her bed and sat across from April. "You thought that… what? Lying to me wouldn't make me mad? Guess what? You were really really wrong. I'm so pissed off at you for not telling me. Yeah, I don't like hunters and I don't think that they should be doing our job. But there are a lot of things in life that I don't like; it doesn't mean that I can't learn to accept it. Does that make any sense to you?"

April didn't know what to think, she knew that she deserved to have Kerry explode at her in anger but at the same time, she knew that that wasn't the type of person that Kerry was. "When did you get so smart?" She asked, light-heartedly.

"Probably while you were sleeping with the hunter." Kerry laughed before taking a more serious tone. "One, I have to meet this hunter. Two, things better not change between us. Oh and I have a third, if I ever find out that you're keeping another secret from me; I'll slay your ass myself. Got it?"

"I've got it. And I promise that nothing will change between us because I've been with him in one way or another since I've met you. So really what's going to change? But before you attempt to kick my ass, which I know for a fact that you can't, there is one more thing that I have to tell you. Gage, the hunter, and I are actually engaged."

Kerry couldn't help but explode in laughter as April cringed while saying the word 'engaged'. "I knew that too. And I have to say that I'm surprised, I never thought that you would take the big step. One thing is for sure, you'll never see me make a mistake like getting married.' As much as Kerry was still upset with April for keeping her relationship with Gage a secret from her, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change the fact that her best friend was now moving onto the next phase in her life and if she didn't want to be left behind, Kerry knew that she would just have to accept it. "And this doesn't mean that I now like hunters, it just means that I won't _accidentally_ kill yours."

For a brief moment, April eyed Kerry in an attempt to try and figure out whether or not Kerry was joking or being serious. But due to the fact that Kerry was refusing to make eye contact with her, April knew that her best friend was only pulling her leg. _Or at least I hope that she is. _"So, are you going to tell me why you look like ass?"

"I spent the night at Orca." Kerry stated as she got up from her bed and walked over to April's dresser, grabbing one of the older slayer's clean t-shirts, knowing that she definitely needed to do her own laundry soon before April also ran out of clean clothing. "Honestly, I think that last night was the first time that I've ever left a bar, alone."

April sat back against her headboard as she tried to figure out what exactly her best friend was saying. "Isn't Orca that a demon bar?"

Kerry instantly covered her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter. "Um… it was." But it became impossible for her to hold in her laughter any longer when she saw April's face. The older slayer had a total look of confusion on her face, this prompted Kerry to explain. "I was a little pissed off with everything that's been happening and I had to blow off some steam. So I went to Orca and had a few drinks. After the alcohol kicked in a bit, I asked all of the demons to leave. Some of them did while others thought that it would be funny to try and scare the young innocent girl, who they thought, just happened to stumble into their bar. Big mistake on their part."

"I'll pretend that I didn't hear that."

Both girls turned their attention towards the door, where Dawn was leaning against the doorframe. "How long where you standing there?" April asked suspiciously, suddenly terrified that Dawn might have heard them discuss her engagement to Gage.

"Not long. Just enough time to hear about Kerr's little adventure. And don't worry, I won't tell Buffy. It didn't take long for you to stop fighting."

With a look of confusion on her face, April turned to Kerry. "K, do you know what she's talking about?"

"Not a clue." Kerry replied shrugging her shoulders.

_I'm not even going to play this game with them. _Dawn resolved before she walked further into the bedroom , closing the door behind her. "I do need your help. Buffy just called and told me that she needs us to do some research. Willow needs us to find a spell for her." Dawn stated.

"Is this about The First?..." April began to ask until she was interrupted with a pillow to the face. That's when she realized that she probably should have kept her mouth shut. And that was confirmed by Dawn's reaction.

Dawn suddenly felt as though she had been hit in the stomach as all of the air from her lungs seemed to disappear. The world around her began to spin, in hopes of preventing herself from fainting she slowly slid her body against the door down to the floor. _This has to be some sick joke. It can't be true but April doesn't look like she's lying. It could explain why Buffy would choose now to reconcile with Xander and Willow. And it also explains why she wants us to find a dark spell. But why wouldn't Buffy tell me about this? And why do April and Kerry know while I'm left in the dark? _

--- *** ---

"When are you going to tell everyone that you're coming back to Cleveland with us?" Xander asked as he sat up in the temporary bed that he had set up on the floor next to Willow's bed. The three of them had spent the entire night planning what needed to be done in order for them to even have a chance at defeating The First. But at about four in the morning, they had decided to get some sleep before all hell broke loose when they told everyone else about The First's return. Buffy and Willow had taken Willow's bed while Xander, not wanting to be apart from the girls, had chosen to sleep on the floor.

Willow sat back against her pillows as she thought about her response. She knew that she should be the one to tell everyone what was going on but after promising Buffy that she wouldn't tell her coven about The First, she had decided to take the easy way out of the situation. "I asked Hope to do it for me and I think that Giles is going to do it with her. I know that I should be the one to do it but I'm afraid of letting out the little fact that we're going in order to help destroy The First."

"When did you ask her? Because we've been together since Buffy and I got here and I didn't see you talk to Hope. Oh wait, you did that telepathic-talking thing, right? And how do you think they'll react?" Xander asked curiously. He had a general curiosity about the people who were now important to Willow but he had to admit that his curiosity had more to do with how Celeste Legaults fit into the situation.

"It wasn't a telepathic thing. I just texted her." Willow said, replying to Xander's first question. "I haven't done the 'telepathic talking' thing since…" As she felt the tears begin to form, Willow decided to skip over the painful memory and simply answer Xander's second question. "Honestly, I don't know how everyone will react. Hope didn't argue about it when I told her, she believes that as leader of this coven, I only do things that are in our best interest. I just hope that I don't disappoint her. Ellie will probably be thrilled to not have to go back to her school but I still need to figure out what I'm going to do with her. She needs to be in school but unfortunately when most schools look at her record, they're not too eager to accept her as a student. But Celeste is my wildcard." Willow laughed, her laughter grew when she noticed that Xander smiled as she mentioned Celeste's name.

When she had first met the young witch, Celeste's fame hadn't been anywhere as big as it currently was. And even though Celeste spent most of her time traveling the world and attending every A-list party that she was invited to, she always came back to the group of small rustic cottages in Scotland whenever the coven needed her. "But I think that she'll come. And if you're wondering if she's single, she is but she only dates famous male actors or singers. Sorry. I am happy that Hope is going to tell them for me but she won't go tell..."

Luckily, Willow was able to stop herself from mentioning that other person's name. She knew that she should talk to him before she told the others. For all that she knew, there was a chance that he didn't want them to know that he was in Scotland. Willow really didn't understand why but she knew that she would be a hypocrite if she divulged a person's whereabouts when they didn't want others to know, especially since she had been doing the exact same thing for the last five years. Unfortunately, she didn't know how he would react to them leaving Scotland and returning to the States. Willow wasn't even sure if he would go with them but she hoped that he would because his help would definitely be needed during this battle.

"Is there another hot witch that I haven't met yet?" Xander asked with a goofy smile in an attempt to make Willow smile. Her smile had disappeared as she was about to mention a fifth member of her coven and a look of worry took its place. While Xander knew that they had reason to worry, he didn't want to think about The First again until they actually returned to Cleveland. For now, he just wanted to know everything about what Willow had gone through since the night that he last saw her, the night of Kennedy's death.

"No, it isn't another witch and stay away from my coven members. Hope is like a mother to me and it would be too weird to think about the two of you together. Ellie is way too young for you and I'm sorry to tell you that you're not famous enough for Celeste. Is it my turn to ask you questions now?" Willow asked, sticking her tongue out in a teasingly manner.

Pretending to be offended by Willow's comment, Xander threw his pillow at her before jumping to his feet and making his way over to Willow's bed. As she moved over to allow him room at sit, Xander slid under the covers and wrapped his arm around Willow. He pulled her into a hug and took his time, enjoying and remembering the sweet strawberry scent of her shampoo.

"Xander, are you okay?" Willow asked, afraid that something that she might have said may have caused Xander to grow silent.

From the tone of her voice, Xander could tell that Willow was worried and that was the last thing that he ever wanted to cause her to feel, especially when they'll all certainly be worried enough when they get back to Cleveland. "I'm fine. Can't a guy just smell his best friend's hair?" He asked with a goofy smile on his face. "Unless there's someone in your life who might get jealous that we're sharing this bed?"

--- *** ---

"April, you said that you'd help with research. What are you doing?" Dawn asked as she walked up to the small table in the library where both Kerry and April had set up for the afternoon. Although it was clear to her that Kerry was actually using her time to do research, she had no idea what April was doing hanging half-way out of the second-storey window with a slingshot in hand.

She still wasn't sure if she believed Kerry and April when they said that The First was back. But now wasn't the time to questions a person's source of information. If The First was back, they needed to be prepared and even if it wasn't, it couldn't hurt to be ready. The one thing that Dawn knew for sure was that Buffy needed all of the slayers to help in the search for the Valentine Spell that Willow needed and that was exactly what she was going to do.

The idea of facing The First again wasn't something that she had ever expected to do again in her life. They barely made it out of the first fight alive. Unfortunately, not everyone could say the same; they did lose quite a few people over those months. Many young potential slayers died as did both Spike and Anya. Dawn just prayed that Kerry had misheard Buffy and Giles talk about The First because the thought of possibly losing more people that she loves was too difficult to comprehend and brought back too many terrible memories.

"She is doing research. Can't you tell?" Kerry replied on April's behalf, without looking up from the book that she was leafing through.

April couldn't help herself from laughing. "Yeah, I'm researching how many marbles I can shot into the fountain. I've already managed to get sixteen of them in there. But do you think that Buffy or Giles will notice that the statue no longer has a nose and a few of the fingers are missing?"

Needing to see the damage for herself, Dawn walked behind Kerry and opened the window next to April. Although it was impressive that April managed to shot the marbles into the fountain that stood approximately 200 feet away, it was clear to Dawn that the poor statue in the center of the fountain suffered the damage of the marbles that didn't quite make it. Not only was the nose gone, along with a few fingers, but almost half of the head was missing. "April! Giles is going to kill you."

"Yeah but Buffy will get a good laugh at it." Deciding that it was probably time to actually get back to researching, April turned and closed the window behind her. She took her seat next to Kerry and she also took the book that Kerry was reading.

Dawn watched as Kerry simply grabbed another book from the pile, not even reacting to the fact that April had just tore the first one from her hands. No matter how many times Dawn and some of the other slayers attempted to figure out the relationship between April and Kerry, there was still no explanation as to why the two opposites would even be friends. "I am not taking any blame for that." She stated in reference to the statute as she closed her window and turned back to Kerry and April. "When Giles asks…"

"We can blame it on Paige." April offered, quite pleased with herself for coming up with the perfect excuse. Paige would get in trouble and she wouldn't.

"Or we can blame it on hunters? Like the one who was drove that car into the fight, last night. Yeah, I like that idea." Kerry laughed before she had to quickly use the book that she had been reading to shield herself as April's hand was about to hit her in the back of the head.

From the looks being exchanged between April and Kerry, Dawn knew that they were talking to each other without words. Not in the same sense as Willow did because that involved magic, this simply involved two friends who clearly spent way too much time together. "You two are weird. Anyways, I think that Kerry has a handle on the girls in here, so I'm going to go back and continue doing research in the living room with the other watchers-in-training. Do you guys know where Paige is? I didn't see her in here and she isn't with us."

"If you want to find Paige, just look for Andrew. It is rare that her pet isn't too far behind her." April stated as she laid the book back down and placed her feet up on the table.

Knowing that April's response was of no help to Dawn, Kerry decided that she would at least try to help the watcher-in-training. "I can help you look. But have you checked in the training rooms? That's where I last saw them."

"I can look for them; just make sure that everyone else in this room continues to do research." Dawn replied as she turned to leave the room. She couldn't help but smile as she left the room, hearing April ask Kerry if she thought that she could get another ten marbles into the fountain in ten shots.

As Dawn walked out of the library and down the two flights of stairs leading into the basement where the training rooms had been set up, she began to wonder what the return of The First could mean to her plans. Dawn had only about another year of training before she became a full-fledged watcher and as a watcher, she would have the opportunity to either stay at the Slayer House to help in the training of the new slayers or she could choose to move anywhere on the planet where a young slayer needed a watcher. Although Dawn had no real plans, she had always entertained the thought of being the only watcher for Faith's group of slayers.

After the fall of Sunnydale and while Giles and Buffy were busy setting up home base in Cleveland, both Faith and Robin had chosen to move to England in order to search for new slayers. They were joined by the only two surviving original potentials-turned-slayers, Vi and Rona, who promptly left Cleveland following Kennedy's death. Both slayers claimed that although they respected Buffy as The Slayer, they couldn't find it in themselves to trust her to have their best interests in mind over her own beliefs.

There had been many times since Kennedy's death that Dawn had believed the same and wished that she had the courage to simply pack up and follow them to Europe. But she had chosen to stay despite the fact that she hated how Buffy had prejudiced the majority of the new slayers to believe that they were the only ones who should play a role in the fight against evil and that normal everyday people shouldn't be involved. Buffy's influence over the young slayers was clearest in the groups of new slayers that had arrived at the Slayer House proceeding that eventful December night five years prior. It may not be clear to the outside observer but for someone who dealt with slayers on a daily basis, the difference between the slayer who had begun their training upon The Scoobies' arrival in Cleveland and those who had only joined the school within the last four years was astounding.

A perfect example of that difference was with April and Kerry. April had been the first new slayer to arrive at the Slayer House and had begun her training with both Buffy and Kennedy. It appeared as though Buffy was going to take the friend approach rather than the commander and chief approach that she had taken during their battle against The First. And it seemed to be a success, the remaining potentials-turned-slayers and the new slayers were thriving with the training being provided by Buffy, Giles, Willow and Xander. It reminded Dawn of one great big family and not of the military form that now seemed the norm within the Slayer House where whatever Buffy said became law. But April and that first group of slayers, many who have since finished their training and have moved around the world, still radiated that sense of closeness and family that they had initially formed, towards anyone who offered their help.

That was where there was a difference between the group of slayers that April belonged to and the one that Kerry was a part of. That group solely believed that only those granted with slayer abilities should be placing their life on the line when it came to finding and destroying vampires and demons. They held little respect for Giles, Dawn or any of the other new watchers or watchers-in-training, believing that normal people were their weak link. Those slayers had taken what Buffy had taught them about needing to keep regular people safe and turned it around to where they considered anyone without slayer abilities to actually be a nuisance to them as slayers. _Maybe that's why Kerry spends so much of her time with April and also why she didn't freak when I told her that I've been hunting demons with Xander; she acts a lot old than someone her age. Unfortunately Paige acts exactly like the typical television fifteen years old. _

As Dawn continued to search the many training rooms in the basement of the Slayer House, her thoughts moved onto the latest group of slayers to join the school, Paige's group. This group, in Dawn's opinion, held more promise than the others before them. With Willow and Xander's return to the school, Dawn was certain that these girls would quickly learn that everyone had the ability to help in their own way and she hoped that the older girls would learn that as well.

"Andrew-Baby, you did get all of that recorded, right?" Dawn heard Paige say as she approached the further training room. As she walked inside, she wasn't shocked to see Paige sitting on top of a stool while Andrew walked around her with his video camera in hand.

"Do I even want to ask you what the two of you are doing when you're both supposed to be helping with research? This isn't some random demon that we're looking for, it's important." Dawn asked, making her presence known as she walked into the room.

After giving Dawn a look of disgust, Paige jumped from the stool and began to walk away from her elder. "Andrew, explain to her the importance of what we're doing and why it is like so much more important than reading those old books that smell like mothballs." She said as she began some stretching exercises, her back still turned to Dawn.

"We're documenting a slayer's training and who better to be the lead in this documentary than Paige. She is the all-american cheerleader who despite given the tremendous burden of being The Slayer…"

"Don't you mean, a slayer?" Dawn interrupted, correcting Andrew's run-on explanation of what they were doing.

Before continuing, Andrew turned to Paige as though he was waiting for her assurance that it was okay for him to refer to her as a slayer rather than The Slayer. With a slight nod and roll of her eyes, Paige gave Andrew that confirmation. "…burden of being 'a slayer' while still maintaining her normal high school life. It is a life of mystery, danger and high school football games. She's a role model to young women everywhere."

"Okay, I've heard enough. Paige, get back upstairs and start helping with the research." Dawn ordered before taking a deep breath knowing that she now had to deal with Andrew. "Andrew, as a watcher-in-training it is part of your job to teach these slayers on how to be slayers."

"I am a slayer." Paige countered. She knew that she still had a lot of learn from Buffy but with Buffy not currently in the picture, Paige felt as though it was her time to shine. Deep inside she knew that she had the ability to be a greater slayer than Buffy but it seemed to her that everyone was always trying to prevent her from achieving that superiority. _They just don't want me to prove that I can be better than her. But Andrew believes in me and just because Buffy put Dawn in charge, it doesn't mean that she could tell him what to do. He's my watcher and she's not his. _

"I was talking to Andrew." Dawn stated before turning her attention back to Andrew, who now cowardly stood behind the young slayer, using her as some sort of shield. "We need to find this spell for Willow and we have to find it now. Do you understand?" Dawn asked, changing the tone of her voice in hopes that Andrew would catch on to the seriousness of the situation but at the same time, she hoped that he knew better than to ask for further details in front of a student.

It took Andrew a minute before the information processed itself in his mind. Willow's name was one of the last names that he had expected Dawn to say. Just the mention of it brought back many memories of fear and of awes. Willow terrified him but at the same time the magic that she was capable of still earned her quite of a bit of respect. "Does this mean that Willow will be returning to the Slayer House? The Scoobies will be whole again?"

Totally confused by what they were discussing, Paige decided that she needed answers. For all she knew this could add some more drama to the documentary that Andrew was making about her life. "Who's Willow? And you mean The Scoobies from that old cartoon Scooby-Doo? Someone really needs to fill me in."

The moment that Paige asked them who Willow was, Dawn's head snapped back to Andrew. She couldn't believe that Paige, or any new slayer for that fact, didn't know who Willow was. "Andrew! How does she not know? And actually, Paige, I really shouldn't be blaming Andrew. Do you not pay any attention in class when Giles talks about how everyone here came to be slayers and why the rule of only one slayer alive at a time was broken?" And when no response came from either Andrew, who had averted his eyes, or Paige, who seemed to simply brush off the accusation, Dawn decided to continue. "I guess that it is time for a history lesson. Willow is a witch; she is also best friends with Buffy and Xander. Together they are often referred to as The Scoobies. And during the first battle against The First, Willow did a spell that gave all potential slayers, meaning all girls who were in line to become slayers, their abilities without having to wait until Buffy or another slayer dies. And Andrew, to answer your question, Willow and Xander are both coming back."

Andrew knew that he probably should talk to the small group of new slayers that Giles had entrusted him to watch over and remind them about some of the things that Buffy had done with the help of her friends. But there was something Dawn had said that caught his attention. She had said 'the first battle against The First' but as far as he knew there had only ever been one battle involving The First, unless… "You're not saying that the ever so powerful witch and Xander are returning because The First is, are you?"

Knowing that she had probably said too much, Dawn decided that it was best if she made a quick exit from the room. "I don't know." She stated before turning around and walking out of the room. "Research, now!"

--- *** ---

Buffy quickly looked down at her watch, from what Giles had told her that morning, they were to meet in Willow's kitchen within the next ten minutes in order to leave but no one else had showed up. _I hope that nothing changes Willow's mind about leaving with us. _She thought to herself as she began fingering the petals on the flowers that sat in the center of the table. Buffy was just about to go in search of any others when she heard the kitchen door open and a cloaked figure walked in.

"There is no bloody way that we're patrollin' that route again. I went patrollin' last night, without you, and had a little rumble with about six Tengus demons. Those bloody birds had no chance, but a couple managed to escape and although I always enjoy a good fight, I'm done with these suicide missions o' yours." As he finished talking and threw the cloak off, something told him that Willow wasn't the person in the kitchen with him. Slowly he turned around to face the person sitting at the table.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She swore that if she had only seen him, she could have explained his presence as that of a ghost but he had spoken and ghosts didn't often do that. Buffy knew that that could only mean one thing, Spike was alive.

END OF CHAPTER

Author's Notes: I would like that thank my co-author, Nightwish, yet again. I love bouncing ides off of you. And I would also like to thank Taaroko for taking the time to post a review, we love you and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter.

I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter. I am just beginning to wonder if anyone else likes this fanfic. I know that there are a lot of original characters but I felt the need, especially in these first few chapters, to establish their identities before I bring Joss Whedon's amazing characters to the forefront. All of the characters will become intertwined. And if there is something that you don't like or would like to read, we always appreciate creative criticism. Please take the time to post a review letting us know what you think.


	7. Chapter 7

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I am so sorry to everyone that this chapter took so long to post. Unfortunately, my computer crashed and took everything with it, including my muse. But with the constant encouragement for my co-author, I have decided to continue on with this fanfic. Please take the time to post a review, letting me know if you are still interested in reading this fanfic. Have a great read! :)

Chapter. 6

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She swore that if she had only seen him, she could have explained his presence as that of a ghost but he had spoken and Buffy knew from experience that that was something that ghosts didn't often do. Which only meant one thing; Spike was very much alive. Or as alive as a vampire could be.

_Damn. _Spike thought to himself as he watched Buffy quickly jump to her feet and grab the vase that had been sitting at the center of the table. Before he was able to figure out what to say, he was forced to jump to the side as the vase came flying passed him, shattering to pieces as it hit the wall. He knew that if he hadn't moved, the vase would certainly have made contact with his head. "What the bloody hell was that for?"

"You're supposed to be dead." She accused, pointing her index finger at him. "Meaning that it should have gone right through you." Buffy couldn't believe that this was happening. Only in her dreams had she expected to ever see him again but now he was standing only a few feet away. Despite how surreal the situation felt, there were two things that she was certain about. One, she was very much awake and two, Spike was very much alive.

It was clear to Spike that Buffy was upset and he couldn't blame her. But he hoped that she would allow him to explain his reasons for keeping his second, or rather third, chance at life a secret from her. He had purposely stayed below the radar of anyone associated with Sunnydale, which included all members of the Scoobies as well as any of the multitudes of slayers around the world. That was until he ran into Willow.

During the days leading up the grand finale battle against The First and subsequently his second death, Spike had held onto hope that he and Buffy could possibly have a future together. It was for that reason that he had fought so hard those last few moments. But upon putting on the medallion and having its power tear through him, he had come to the realization that Buffy could never truly love him. "I'm not dead."

"This has to be some kind of sick joke. Will, where are the hidden cameras?" Xander asked as he walked into the kitchen followed by Willow and Giles. He couldn't believe what he was seeing; Spike was at one end of the room while Buffy was standing at the other end, clearly in shock. Xander had had no idea that Spike was alive and by the look on Buffy's face, she had been clueless as him. Turning around to gage the reactions of both Giles and Willow, Xander could tell that Giles was clearly confused by Spike's sudden appearance but Willow appeared to be nervous about the situation unfolding in front of them.

Xander wasn't the only one who noticed that Willow didn't appear to be fazed by the visitor, Buffy saw it too. "You knew that he was alive. How could you keep this from me?" She accused the redheaded witch in anger.

Willow didn't know what to say but before she could think of anything, Spike came to her defense.

"It was my decision and she had no idea." Spike attempted to explain. He knew that this was his mess and Willow didn't deserve to be thrown into the crossfire. _This soul is turning me into a bloody human. _He thought to himself as he realized that the old Spike would have been glad to have the blame thrown on someone else. But there was something about being around Willow and her coven that had softened the vampire.

Spike had spent the first few years proceeding his 'death' simply wandering aimlessly around the world with no final destination in mind. He felt lost without Buffy in his life and yet he knew that she could never love him the way that he loved her. And he also believed that for as long as he was in her life, she wouldn't be able to find the true love and happiness that he knew she deserved.

He continued with his self-loathing travels until an early September night when while walking through a small Scottish village, he suddenly realized that his feet were frozen in place.

*** --- Flashback ---***

_He had been jumping from one continent to the next in search for something that he already knew that was lost and that he would never find again. Spike felt fortunate to experience love twice during his time on earth. While both loves had been polar opposites of each other, he knew that he wouldn't have changed a thing about either. That was until recently. _

_Within the last couple of months, Spike had surprised himself as he truly began to miss the chaos of living among Buffy and the Scoobies. A part of him had to admit that he also somewhat missed having potential slayers running around. But things were different now. Before he had regained his soul, he would have given anything to have more than one slayer to kill but now the magnitude of slayers was nearly a nuisance. There appeared to be slayers everywhere and avoiding them had become a challenge in itself, especially when they seemed to join forces with other slayers in their attempt to kill him. But it was a sacrifice that he had to live with if he wanted to keep his existence a secret from Buffy and everyone else. _

_Upon hearing rumors within the demon underground that Scotland was one of the only countries that didn't have a slayer; he decided that it would be the perfect place to clear his mind from all things Buffy._

_After a week of keeping his distance from everyone and everything, Spike had decided to do a little patrolling in the hopes of relieving some of the anger that he felt towards himself for ever putting himself in the position of having too much time pass to where he could no longer return to Buffy without a real reason. _

_As Spike walked passed a small restaurant, he suddenly realized that he could no longer move. His feet appeared to be glued to the ground. After quickly surveying his surroundings in search of the demon responsible, he saw her. Standing on the other side of the street was Willow. She had a small smile of satisfaction on her face as he figured out that she was responsible for his lack of mobility. Knowing that there was no use in fighting the spell, Spike simply waited as Willow made her way towards him. _

_"This should probably shock me but nothing in this life does anymore." Willow stated as she approached him. "Eximo." She whispered. The magical binds that had prevented Spike from moving suddenly disappeared. _

_Spike nervously scanned the area around them, expecting to see Buffy or one of the other Scoobies to come out from around a corner. But when no one did, Spike became curious. 'Why would Willow be in Scotland alone?' He asked himself before turning his attention back to Willow. "The shock is mutual. Tell me what brings Red all the way to the one place on earth without a slayer. Unless, you and the potential or should I congratulate you and refer to her as a slayer, thinking about taking residence here?"_

_It was obvious to Spike that something must have definitely gone wrong within The Scoobies because the look in Willow's eyes when he mentioned Kennedy was one of darkness and devastation. _

_"I'm not here with Kennedy. She died almost four years ago." She replied softly, lowering her head in order to prevent him from seeing the tears that had begun to pour down her face. _

_For some reason unknown to even himself, Spike pulled Willow into a hug. "I wouldn't be getting used to this if I were you." He warned in a lighthearted manner. _

_With a brief laugh and shake of her head, Willow pulled away from him. "I don't think that anyone would believe me even if I told them. They're still in Cleveland, you know. Of course, you know that. I'm sorry, it's just that I'm a little out of the loop since I left Cleveland. Did Buffy send you here?"_

_'So I'm not the only one who has estranged themselves from The Slayer. It must have been something pretty big to break up The Scooby core.' It was clear to Spike that Willow had no clue that Buffy was also oblivious to his current existence. While not in a mood to explain his reasons for staying clear of Buffy, being with Willow reminded the vampire of the loneliness that he experienced since his death. "No. I've been living life on the road. It's the smart vampire's way of staying alive. So what are you doing walking the streets at two in the morning?"_

_Spike sat next to Willow as she sat down on a bench facing a small restaurant. "I had to get away from my coven. I know that that's a mean thing to say but I don't mean it in a bad way. I just needed time to clear my head a little; it isn't easy being the head of your very own coven. So I decided to do some patrolling and after not finding anything, I decided to stop here for a piece of chocolate cake. They bake it with little pieces of... But then I thought that I saw you and..."_

_"I get the picture." Spike said, stopping Willow from babbling any further. "You with a coven? Haven't you come a long way from your days of floating a pencil in the air?" He smiled as he thought about the time when he had kidnapped the witch in an attempt to have her do a love spell for him on Drucilla. Although she had often used to abilities to help Buffy, the power that now radiated off of her didn't even compare. _

_'Her hands keep shaking.' He noted to himself. But even for a September night, the weather was still quite warm which meant that she certainly wasn't shaking from the cold. "Are you okay?" He cautiously asked. Even though he knew that Willow would never hurt someone intentionally, he couldn't forget that she also had a dark side. And although he would definitely have enjoyed seeing Dark Willow for himself, he knew that he never wanted to be at the receiving end of that power. _

_Quickly stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket, Willow turned away from Spike. "When I don't use any magic for a little while, bad things can happen."_

_Unsure if she was simply telling him or warning him, Spike decided to remain silent. _

_"Wanna help me find some demons to use these powers on?" Willow offered as she stood up from the bench and began to walk away._

_Never one to turn down a good fight, Spike jumped up to follow the witch. _

_*** --- End of Flashback --- ***_

"Although I am sure that we all have questions for Spike, we have to leave now or we won't return to Cleveland by the time the slayers leave to patrol." Giles stated, snapping Spike out of his thoughts. Although he was intrigued by this new turn of events, Giles knew that Buffy didn't need to deal with the additional chaos at that moment.

"Leaving?" Spike asked Willow, turning away from Buffy. The pain and anger in her eyes broke something in him, and the guilt associated with those emotions pained him because he knew that he was the source and reason for that pain.

As Willow noticed Hope, Ellie and Celeste enter the kitchen with their suitcases; she knew that she had to choose her words very carefully. From the look of disappointment on Hope's face, Willow knew that she would have to tell Spike about The First, earlier, but she had no intention on doing it now that Ellie and Celeste in the room.

While Willow was trying to figure out how best to explain the situation without actually explaining it, Hope decided to help. "They need Willow's help back in Cleveland and the coven has chosen to go with her. Since you're not technically a part of this coven, you are not forced to join us. But your help is always welcome, Spike."

"The vamp isn't coming back with us and I think that Buffy and Giles will agree with me on this one. He lied to everyone. We all thought that he was dead but instead he's been enjoying life here. I don't blame you, Willow, because he probably lied to you too but we don't need someone around that we can't trust, not right now." Xander interrupted. Although he never liked Spike, especially since he slept with Anya, he had had respect for the vampire because of the way that he died in order to save them and the rest of the world from The First. But that small amount of respect for the vampire was now gone.

"Stop it!" Willow yelled, causing a lamp to shatter next to her. While everyone in the room stood in shock, Willow decided that if anyone prevented Spike from returning to the States with them, she wouldn't go either. But fortunately, Willow didn't believe that it would result in that because based on what Buffy had told her about the warning given to her about The First, they needed him. And Willow knew that she needed him there too since he was the only one in the room who knew about her full capabilities.

"Giles, isn't it true that we need everyone who was a part of what happened in Sunnydale?" She asked, carefully choosing her words to ensure that no one other than The Scoobies knew what she was talking about.

Buffy couldn't believe that Willow was fighting for Spike to come with them. It was as though Willow had become better friends with Spike than she was with Buffy. _Yeah and I guess that it's my fault. She needed someone and because of what I did, she felt like she couldn't come to me. In fact, she ran away from me and everyone else. But why him? And why does Spike have to be alive? And why does a part of me still want him? _The final question that she asked herself surprised her. Buffy felt that as time had passed she had come to terms with the fact that Spike was gone and wasn't coming back but she had felt like at least she knew that he loved her when he had died. But seeing him now and knowing that he wasn't actually dead, told her that she had clearly been wrong because if he did love her, he would have returned to her and not have stayed away.

With the return of The First, Buffy knew that she already had too much on her plate and Spike's return was simply one too many things to handle. She turned to look at Giles as he pondered Willow's question. But Buffy knew that in the end, Willow was right; the warning did state that they needed the help of everyone who had played an important role during the first battle and Spike had done exactly that.

Spike had so many questions and although he knew that Willow would likely be the only one willing to answer them, it was clear that now wouldn't likely be a good time to ask for those answers. But there was one thing that he knew for sure, something big must be happening and he certainly wasn't going to sit back and miss it. "If there's a fight ahead, I'm not being left behind."

"A fight?" Both Ellie and Celeste asked in unison.

Knowing that they didn't have time to explain everything at the moment, Giles decided to take control of the situation. "Alright, Spike will be joining us. Now, we have to leave or else we will be arriving in Cleveland after the slayers have already left to patrol."

--- *** ---

Gage looked down at his cell phone for the twentieth time in the last 5 minutes. It had been hours since he left multiple messages on April's voicemail asking her to call him.. But she had yet to return his call. And in fearing that something might have happened to his fiancée, Gage decided that if she didn't return his call before it was time to start patrolling the streets of Cleveland, he would go in search of her.

* Ring! Ring!

Hoping that it was April, Gage quickly answered his phone. "Where were you?"

"I'm on a plane on my way back to Cleveland. Didn't Lucy tell you?" Xander replied, confused by the way in which Gage answered the call.

"Oh sorry, Xan. I thought that you were April. Yeah, Luce told me that you left for Scotland. How did it go?" Gage responded, surprised and slightly disappointed that it hadn't been April on the other end of the conversation. But he was curious to hear the exact reasons for Xander's sudden departure.

Xander knew that Buffy wanted to wait until everyone was together before explaining the situation that they faced to the others. But this was Gage; he wasn't some random slayer or hunter. Thinking that he was being subtle, Xander got up and walked to the back of the jet. Once he was sure that no one would be able to hear him, he responded to the hunter's question. "We have a problem. Not a problem like not being able to decide between two flavors of ice cream but a big problem; a First-sized problem." He whispered into his phone.

"Funny, Xander." Gage replied, laughing. But when Xander didn't respond, something told Gage that his best friend was likely being serious. "Who knows?"

"I'm not totally sure but I think that only Buffy, Giles, Willow, a member of her coven and us. Buffy wants to keep it under wraps until we get there. So don't tell anyone and I mean ANYONE." Xander warned but the moment that he actually thought about it, he knew that Gage wouldn't likely keep the news to himself. The younger hunter may not tell the other hunters but there wasn't a doubt in his mind that Gage would tell April about it. "Not even April."

"I'll try but no promises. You know, as much as I do, that she can be slightly impulsive. And if she is going to do something that puts her in direct danger, I'm going to warn her and she'll likely want a reason. But again, I'll try. So when are you coming back?" Gage asked as he begun to pace the length of his office. The First was back and he was going to be a part of this battle, along with the slayers and his hunters and that included the love of his life, April.

As much as Gage wished that he could figure something out to ensure that April didn't take part in this fight, he knew her better. She would likely be one of the first slayers to volunteer themselves for the fight and probably enjoy every step in it.

Xander cringed when Gage refused to promise to keep the news from April. But it wasn't as though Xander didn't understand, he understood perfectly. There was nothing that he wanted more than to tell Lucy but he felt as though it was important for him to tell her in person. They were about to reface the biggest fight of their lives, and Xander knew that Lucy and the other hunters were clueless about how dangerous this situation was going to be. "Well, you'll be happy. I need you and the others to head over to the Slayer House. I think that the slayers might a little need help searching for a spell."

"A spell?" Gage couldn't piece together what the return of The First had to do with a spell, unless… "You got her to agree to come home?" Gage asked, with a slight tone of excitement in his voice.

Xander couldn't help but let out a small laugh, despite the situation that they faced. "You sound happier than I did when she agreed to come with us. So you think that you can handle helping the slayers?"

"It won't be easy. There's definitely bad blood between some of us and some of them, I just hope that everyone can get over their issues before it almost gets someone killed… again."

"Again?" Xander asked. As far as he could recall, there had never been an incident where someone almost died, unless… "What happened?"

Knowing that he had said too much, Gage decided that it was best to end the conversation in the most mature way possible. Crinkling a piece of paper by the phone, Gage began to answer Xander's question. "Well while on patrol…. *crinkling… Xander, are you there?" Click!

Xander stared back at the phone for a couple of minutes before realizing that they must have been cut off or there was something that Gage definitely didn't want to tell him. Just as Xander was about to return to his seat, he noticed Spike standing behind him. "What do you want?"

"You are going to tell me what is going on." Spike demanded. He had been sitting beside Willow the entire plane ride and it was clear to him that she was extremely worried about something. And from what he had figured out on his own, it had to be something big if Willow was returning to the States.

"This has nothing to do with you, Spike. You're only here because Willow wanted you here. And I don't even get why." Xander replied with a short laugh. He was curious to know how Willow and Spike joined forces but Xander certainly didn't want to spend more time around the vampire than he had to.

Spike knew that had this conversation taken place prior to the collapse of Sunnydale then Xander would have had a point. But too much had happened since his second "death" and Spike had a feeling that Willow would likely now trust his judgment more so than those who used to be her best friends. "You're right; this has nothing to do with me. It has to do with Willow which means that it's my business. But if you don't want to tell me, I'll just go and tell Willow that she should rethink the situation before doing anything drastic. I take it that time isn't an issue?"

"You wouldn't…" Xander started to reply when he saw Willow smiled softly at Spike. 'Maybe I should tell him.' He thought to himself.

--- *** ---

"This place definitely gives me the creeps." Nolan stated as he and the other hunters approached the front door of the Slayer House. He wasn't exactly sure why Gage had brought them all there but from the look of fear in his leader's eyes, he knew better than to question Gage.

Lucy looked up at the huge mansion, in front of her. It stood four-storeys high and was about the length of a full-size football field. _'How can anyone call this a home?' _She thought to herself until she remembered that at one point in time, before she knew him, Xander had called this place his home. The same home that he couldn't bare returning to after Willow left the city. _'And now she might be coming back.' _

Gage knew that the slayers likely already knew that they were there but decided to ring the doorbell as a form of respect. Except before doing so, he turned around to face the hunters who were waiting behind him. It was clear to him that the majority of them were nervous especially with the previous night's events still fresh in their minds, while the others seemed excited about no longer having to keep their relationship with any particular slayer a secret. Gage was aware that some of his hunters were related to certain slayers while he suspected that some of his hunters may in fact be dating their own slayers.

"Okay, I know that everyone could think of better ideas on how to spend their afternoon other than helping slayers with research. But this is important not only to Xander but it affects all of us. I can't give you guys more details until the Xan-Man returns. So how about we keep our weapons down and help in anyway that we can?" Gage said as he looked at every hunter, individually. He knew from the stories that Kennedy had told him about The First, that he would likely lose some of his hunters to the evil and there was nothing that he could do to prevent it.

Although no one came out and agreed with him, Gage took it as a good thing that no one voiced their disapproval either as he reached for the doorbell. But before he could even press the button, the door flew open.

"What the fuck are you guys doing here?" Paige asked as she was surprised to see all of the demon hunters standing in the doorway. On her way to the library, she had heard the alarm go off announcing the presence of someone on the Slayer property but she had expected it to be Buffy, not a group of slayer-wannabes.

But before Gage could answer the young slayer's question, he smiled as he heard April's voice approach them. "If you're talking to Buffy like that, I can promise you that you'll be wearing a body cast until the day you die."

When April saw Gage in the doorway, standing in front of a large group of hunters, she froze. Although she loved Gage more than anything in the world, well other than slaying, the Slayer House was her domain and she had never expected to see him there.

"Paige, watch your language." Kerry stated as she walked up behind April. "Now hell must have seriously frozen over if you guys have the balls to show up here after last night." She added as she noticed their visitors. Although she knew that this likely had to do with the return of The First, she hadn't expected that they would have to work alongside normal people. "Dawn!" She called out, wondering if the watcher-in-training had any idea about this unexpected visit.

Dawn and the other watchers-in-training had heard the alarm go off but had decided to continue with the research knowing that it likely wasn't a demon at their front door. But once Dawn had heard her name, she knew that she better check out what was going on especially since it now seemed like every young slayer was making their way towards the front foyer. The source of the excitement was clear to her as she made her way through the slayers and down the stairs. Demon Hunters. "I take it that Xander asked you guys to come. I think that we need all the help that we can get. This spell isn't the easiest one to find. We've been searching for hours." She stated as she made her way to Gage.

"You mean that you're letting them stay? How are they supposed to help when they're only…" Paige began to whine until Nolan cut her off.

"Only normal people? That's what you were going to say, right? Well it doesn't take super strength or speed to read a book. And from what I know about slayers, you aren't the most intellectual bunch." With Nolan's statement, many of the slayers who stood on the second-storey landing and on the stairs, began to descend as they took their fighting positions.

Suddenly snapping out of the shock of having Gage at the Slayer House, April knew that if she didn't take control of the situation, there may be bloodshed. She knew that Dawn was trying her best to prevent anything from happening but April knew that the majority of the younger slayers hold no respect for anyone but other slayers and Buffy. "Kerr, hoist me up onto your shoulders."

"What?" Kerry asked, she was ready to defend herself and the other slayers while April wanted a piggyback ride.

"Now are you gonna help me or not?"

Knowing that she didn't want to piss April off more than she already appeared to be, Kerry lowered herself slightly. "And just because you are on my shoulders, it doesn't mean that I share your opinion on what you are about to say."

April waited until she was firmly on her best friend's shoulder and Kerry had stood back up before she answered her. "Shut it or I'll stick my foot in your mouth to shut you up."

Plugging her nose with her free hand, Kerry instantly retorted. "I'd honestly rather eat shit than smell your feet, again." She laughed.

Once April had a better view of everyone around her, slayers, demon hunters and watchers-in-training, she knew that she had to get their attention. "SHUT IT!" Suddenly the entire room grew quiet. "Okay, everyone already knows that there is bad blood between slayers and hunters. That's nothing new. But don't you think that something big and bad must be coming if Xander and Buffy wants us to work together? So how about we listen to our individual leaders and get back to find this spell?"

At first, the room remained silent. It was as though no one wanted to be the first person to argue with April. Gage couldn't help but smile at her. Even though she had been avoiding his calls the entire day, he knew that she loved him just as much as he loved her. And this top-dog attitude of hers reminded him instantly of why he fell in love with her. _If only she knew why it was so important for us to work together on this. _"I agree with her. Last night wasn't anyone's fault. And thankfully, no one was seriously hurt. So how about we place our issues behind us, at least for the moment, and find this spell."

"Since when do you agree with a slayer?" Nolan voiced, knowing that he was likely speaking on behalf of all of the hunters. It was also obvious to him that something was definitely weird between his mentor and this particular slayer. Gage hadn't taken his eyes off of her the entire time that they had been in the Slayer House.

April wasn't sure how Gage was going to answer Nolan, so she tapped Kerry on the shoulder, letting her know that she wanted to be lowered back onto the ground. But instead on answering the young hunter, Gage simply continue to look at her. His eyes were pleading with her to finally let everyone know the truth about them but she had her doubts as to whether this was a good time. "Because he knows that I'm right." She smiled as she approached the hunters. "So how about all demon hunters join the watchers-in-training in their lounge while the slayers, all of the slayers, head back to the library. That way no one is stepping on anyone else's toes. Deal?" Instead of offering her hand to Gage, she offered the deal to Nolan instead.

April was certain that Gage would have agreed even if the rest of the hunters didn't. And although April had more worries on her mind with the return of The First and the fact that she was unsure if she could keep the news from Gage, she needed to have all of the hunters on board and they apparently were looking to Nolan for their answers. _Gage is going to have to be careful if he wants to keep his title of Head Demon Hunter or this protégé might try stealing it from him. _

_Wrong person! _Nolan thought to himself as the slayer offered her hand to him. But when he turned to Gage for answers on what he should do, he realized that Gage along with the other hunters were simply waiting for him to decide what to do. _Since when did I turn into Xander? _

From the look of her brother's face, Lucy could tell that he was confused about what was going on but the slayer's intentions were clear to her. There was something between Gage and this slayer which was why the slayer didn't ask him to agree to the terms of their temporary ceasefire. And since Nolan was the most vocal about his feeling towards this situation, the slayer must have thought that he was the one that the other hunters would follow.

Nolan felt his sister push herself in front of him. At first, he was unsure what she was doing until he saw her accept the slayer's hand.

"Deal." Lucy stated.

--- *** ---

Kerry hated the idea that there were hunters in her home and that there was nothing that she could do to stop it. Even though they were all on the first floor with the watchers-in-training, they were still too close for comfort. "I can't believe that you did that. I know that you want to spend the rest of your life with a hunter but that doesn't mean that any of us want to spend time with them." She whispered, not wanting the others to hear them at odds over the subject.

Even though April had a large book of spells open in front of her, she hadn't been doing any research since the hunters had arrived a couple of hours prior. It seemed as though no one cared that it was Buffy and Xander's idea for everyone to help in the search for Willow's spell and that she was only listening to what Dawn asked of them. All of the slayers who were against the idea of accepting the hunters' help were blaming her for their presence. While those who were actually excited by the idea of working alongside the demon hunters remained silent in fear that they would be accused of being traitors.

April was about to lose her temper with a small group of young slayers who were clearly whispering about her when Gage walk into the library. _Stupid, stupid man. _She thought to herself with a smile. She knew that Gage was aware of the fact that it likely wasn't a good idea for a hunter to walk into a room full of slayers but she loved how he apparently didn't care about the possible danger that he placed himself in.

"It's like a mouse walking right into the lions' den." Kerry said, rolling her eyes as April smile grew the closer that he got.

"You haven't answered any of my calls or texts, even the ones that I have sent you while I was in the other room." Gage stated as he now stood in front of April and the slayer that he figured must be Kerry. "It's nice to finally meet you, Kerry. I feel like I know you already, April talks about you all the time."

Kerry felt as though she wanted to punch him right in the face but she knew that her anger wasn't exactly due to his actions. Her anger was towards April. "Well, I can't really say the same about you because frankly, I didn't know who the hell you were until just a couple of days ago. April has never mentioned your name. And don't expect me to be congratulating to two of you because you are both nutters to even consider getting married."

"Married?" Dawn asked in shock as she walked into the room followed by the other hunters. When she noticed Gage leave the room where they had been doing research, Dawn had decided to follow him in order to assure that none of the slayers did anything to cause more trouble between both groups. And apparently she wasn't the only one who had thought that because the hunters had followed her to the second-floor library.

Dawn didn't mind having the hunters around because they were her friends just as much as any of the slayers were. She had hunted alongside them multiple times were as Buffy never permitted her the chance to play an active role in the fight against evil. But Dawn had always made sure that her adventures with the hunters were never found out by anyone from the Slayer House. And now it appeared as though she wasn't the only one who had been keeping secrets.

"You told them?" Gage asked April, hopeful that she was actually coming around to the idea of getting married. Especially since he now had a feeling that Kerry may play a larger role in April's hesitation to get married than he had initially believed.

_Holy shit! I can't believe this is happening now. The First is coming back and all anyone cares about is who I'm sleeping with. Why couldn't Kerr have kept her mouth shut? _April thought to herself as she noticed the looks of shock of everyone's faces. "I told her but she already knew!"

"And now everyone else knows too." Kerry laughed as she tore a page for a book and inserted it into her pocket. "I'm hungry. I think that I am going to go make myself something to eat before patrolling." She stated as she made he way towards the library's doorway which was still filled with hunters and watchers-in-training who had come to watch the scene that was now unfolding in front of them. "Move it, Hunter!" She ordered as she pushed her way passed Nolan and out of the room.

April couldn't believe that Kerry had thrown her in the middle of this mess and was now leaving her alone to deal with it. "I'm hungry too. K, wait up!" She shouted above the noise of the gossip that now surrounded her.

As she walked past Gage, he grabbed her arm in an attempt to prevent her from leaving. "What are you doing?" Gage felt like the April that he thought he knew, may not in fact be the same April who now stood in front of him.

"You wanted me to tell them and now everyone knows. This is what you wanted so now you can deal with everyone's shit reactions. The only opinions that matter to me are Buffy's and Kerry's. Now are you going to let go of my arm, or do I have to do it for you?"

Gage instantly released the hold that he had forgotten he had on her arm. "Sorry. Do you even want to get married because I don't feel like you want to right now?" Terror suddenly filled Gage's mind as he considered the fact that he might have pushed April too far by constantly asking her to finally admit to truth about their relationship and after three years, he hadn't thought that it was too much to ask. But apparent it might have been.

"Now you are being ridiculous. If I didn't want to marry you, I would never have said yes. But I'm not talking about this, right now, in front of everyone. We can talk about it after we patrol tonight because of…" April paused as she stopped herself from saying 'The First'. "Because I think that Buffy will probably want all of us to hunt together for the next little while." Standing on the tip of her toes, April quickly kissed him on the cheek before she sprinted out of the room.

"Is this some sick joke?" Nolan asked as he and Dawn approached Gage. They, along with everyone else in the room had watched the exchange between Gage, April and Kerry. And it was clear to Nolan that Gage hadn't been honest with them.

Dawn knew that Gage likely didn't want all of the young slayers and the watchers-in-training to be listening in on a conversation that should be private between him and the other demon hunters. "Okay, April and Kerry had a good idea. I want all slayers and everyone related to this house to head down to the kitchen, right now." And although her order was followed by the reluctant groans, everyone other than the hunters began to file out of the room. Dawn noticed some of the slayers and hunters sending each other looks that could definitely kill. _Oh, this is gonna be fun. I cannot wait for Giles to come back. He'll know what to do. _She thought to herself as the followed Andrew and Paige out of the library.

--- *** ---

Buffy had spent the entire flight back to Cleveland purposely trying to avoid any eye contact with Spike. But that proved a lot more difficult than she had expected because there was something definitely different about him. Although she wanted to be mad at Spike, and a large part of her was, seeing him with his arm wrapped around the young witch, Ellie, as she slept couldn't help but pull at her heart strings. The only thing was that every time she tried to sneak a quick look at him, he was staring right back at her.

Spike couldn't believe that he was actually sitting in a jet that had windows especially tinted in order to protect vampires, more particularly Angel, from the sun. From the information that Spike and Willow were able to gather individually from Giles and Buffy, it now appeared as though Angel had his very own team of slayers fighting evil in Los Angeles. Spike couldn't help but step away from the situation and laugh at the idea of a vampire being in charge of one slayer let alone a group of them.

Even though he was able to get all the information regarding the reason for their return to the United States, Spike knew that the path ahead of them, leading to The First, wasn't going to be an easy one. Especially for Willow. In many ways, Willow was a hundred times more powerful now than she was when they first battled The First but at the same time, Spike was well aware of the consequences of having that much power. And in combining that with the fact that Willow now had to bring Tara back from the dead, for the first time in his memory Spike was scared for another's welfare.

"We're landing, aren't we?" Ellie asked Spike, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Looking briefly out of a small window, Celeste saw that they were approaching the airport runway. "No, the pilot simply wishes to fly closer to the ground." She replied, sarcastically.

In an attempt to prevent Celeste and Ellie from getting into an argument in front of Giles, Buffy and Xander, Hope asked: "Ellie, you were asleep. How did you know that we are closing to arriving?"

"I was dreaming of hundreds, maybe thousands of slayers. Even now I can still feel them." Ellie answered as she began repacking the contents of her bag. Although the dream had also included them being in the midst of a huge battle, the young witch thought that based on the stress that was clearly visible on Willow's face, she would keep that information to herself.

Something with the exchange of looks between Spike, Willow and Hope told Giles that Ellie's ability to sense slayers had been unknown to them. That was when he thought back to something that Hope had told him about the teenage witch. _Ellie is only just learning how to work between the parameters of white magic. _Giles now wished that he had asked Hope to elaborate on what she meant. The fact that she said purposely said 'parameters of white magic' caused him to believe that Ellie may pose a danger in their battle against The First.

"Please secure your seatbelts as we are about to land." A voice stated over the speakers.

"Welcome back home, Will." Xander said as he placed his hand over Willow's, who to his shock, instantly moved her hand from his.

--- *** ---

"Okay, I know that everyone is upset and you have every right. But you guys don't know the reasons why I had to keep my relationship with April a secret." Gage stated as he took a seat on the edge of the table, facing Nolan, Lucy and the other demon hunters who sat around the room.

He knew that every single one of the faces that looked back at him, looked up to him and Xander as role models. But that was a role that Gage never felt comfortable playing, especially since he knew that he was lying to them about an entire part of his life.

"She's a slayer." Lucy stated simply as she continued to watch Gage, in an attempt to figure out why he didn't feel like he could trust even one of them enough to tell them the truth. That was when she began to think about moments, especially within the last couple of years, where their leader had mysteriously gone missing. But at the time, no one suspected anything because Xander seemed to always know where he was. _He knew! _She thought to herself as the realization popped into her head. Xander must have known that Gage was having a relationship with a slayer.

"And slayers are the enemy." Nolan added.

"I've never said that!" Gage snapped. He knew what the hunters believed and he blamed the slayers for it. It had never been his or Xander's intent for there to be such hatred between hunters and slayers but it seemed to be easier to allow hunters to believe it in order to ensure that Buffy would never find out. And it just never occurred to Gage that they would have to one day work together as they now needed to. "I'm sorry. It was wrong for me to snap. It's just that when Xan and I started training new demon hunters, we never intended of everyone hating each other. Yes, I am in love and marrying a slayer but she is also a person, someone that I've known for as long as I've known Xander."

Nolan couldn't believe what he was hearing. Just a couple of days prior, he had had his entire life planned out. He would continue hunting and one day, he was certain that he would have his very own team of hunters. But now they were helping the slayers which wasn't something that Nolan ever wanted to do. _I refuse to be second-best to them. _He thought to himself as he attempted to wrap his mind fully around the situation. _If we help the slayers then we pretty much become their bitches and I don't trust Xander and Nolan to look out for us when it is obvious that they love slayers._ "I'm out of here." Nolan stated before heading towards the door as his sister and the other hunters stood up to follow.

"Where are you going?" Gage asked, worried that his team was a lot more upset with the situation than he had expected. _Xander better get here soon or we might not have anymore demon hunters wanting to hunt._

"We're leaving. And you need to think about where your loyalties lie." Nolan replied, glad that he wasn't the only one who objected to Gage marrying a slayer. He also couldn't help but smile at the thought that if the others were following him that meant that he was in charge and therefore the leader.

Gage couldn't believe his ears or his eyes. Every single one of the hunters who had accompanied him to the Slayer House were now ready to leave and leave him behind. "Everyone sit, now!" He ordered.

--- *** ---

"Buffy is gonna kill you when she finds out that you've eaten all of the marshmallows. And you know that you didn't need to bring the whole bag, right?" April laughed as she followed Kerry into the sitting room at the front of the house.

"Eating all of the marshmallows isn't going to matter when you tell her that you're planning to marry Gage the Demon Hunter." Kerry laughed as she popped a couple more of miniature marshmallows into her mouth.

April allowed herself to fall backwards onto the couch as she thought about how to tell Buffy about her engagement. But the moment she sat down, the sirens began to wail announcing the presence of a non-slayer on the property. She quickly turned to look out the window as she heard multiple car doors open and shut. "Holy shit."

Kerry could tell that whatever or whoever was outside certainly shocked her best friend, which intrigued Kerry as April wasn't one to be rendered speechless. It only took her a moment to leap up from her seat and join April on the couch. And although Kerry was expecting something big like a large demon of some sort, she was surprised to see Buffy and Giles among a small group of people that she didn't know. "Who are they?"

For a moment, April thought that she had been dreaming. That was when she remembered what Dawn had told her the previous morning. Buffy and Xander had gone to Scotland in order to talk to Willow about helping them with something which April now believed had to do with The First. But she had never expected Willow to actually return to Cleveland. "The tall guy is Xander. And the one standing next to him is Willow."

"Which one is Willow?" Throughout the years, Kerry had often heard Willow's name mentioned by either April, Dawn or Giles. Kerry was also aware of the fact that Willow was a witch and the one responsible for the fact that there was now more than one slayer, or two if she counted Faith. But standing outside, unloading their bags, were three women and one teenager that Kerry had never met. And from the women that she saw, none of them looked powerful enough to be able to pull off the things that the others claimed she had done.

"The redhead." April replied. She had expected Kerry to instantly make a comment but instead her best friend remained silent. April turned to look at her best friend and by the way that she had her eyes now locked on the redheaded witch, April decided to add: "Don't even think about it."

"What?" Kerry asked, attempting to make her voice sound as innocent as possible even though there certainly weren't any innocent thoughts in her mind as she watched Willow smile at something that Giles must have said.

Knowing exactly how Kerry's mind worked, April couldn't help but laugh. She knew that Kerry successfully walked through everyday at the Slayer House pretending to be this cool and calm person but April also knew the side of the younger slayer that came out when they snuck out after patrolling. ""I know what you're thinking. She isn't like that. I mean, she's gay but she isn't your type."

"I don't know what you are talking about. And I cannot believe that you're accusing me of thinking about sex when a crazy evil is trying to kill us." She replied, averting her eyes away from April's suspicious gaze until she fully thought about what April had just said. "Wait. What is my type?"

"Easy."

Without a second thought, Kerry grabbed the pillow next to her and swung it at April with all of her might. April mustn't have expected the retaliation which caused Kerry to laugh, hysterically, as April began to spit out feathers from the now exploded pillow that had made direct contact with her face. "That's a 'Screw You' if you didn't notice." She retorted as she attempted to stop laughing because she knew that April was right.

Still trying to remove the feathers from her mouth and hair, April knew that she had the perfect comeback. "I've always known that you wanted to but sorry, I like men."

Knowing that she wasn't going to win this battle of wits, Kerry decided to change the subject. "Who are the other women?"

"No clue. How about we go welcome Buffy and Giles back and find out." April jumped from the couch and quickly surveyed the damage from the pillow attack. "I'm taking no responsibility for this mess." She laughed before running out towards the front entrance.

--- *** ---

"Whose bag is this?" Xander asked as he attempted to lift the briefcase-sized bag. But much to his surprise, the bag weighed a lot more than he could ever have imagined, let alone carry.

"If it is pink and ugly then it's Celeste's bag?" Ellie chimed in. She was so happy to be in the United States, that she didn't care that Celeste had come with them.

The teenage witch knew that this was where Willow had once lived and the sheer size of the mansion that stood in front of her was no where close to the size of the small cabin that they shared. "This place is gigantic. And you lived here?" She asked, looking at both Willow and Spike.

Ellie knew that Willow and Spike had known each other when Willow lived in the States but she always wondered how exactly they knew each other. She never saw Willow date or show any interest in anyone and Spike appeared to be the only guy around who Willow was affectionate towards. _Maybe they dated and decided to stop when he became a vamp? _She thought to herself, before she remembered the little fact that Spike had been a vampire for a lot longer than Willow had even been alive. _Shit, I have to find someone for Willow to love, maybe then she will stop trying to micromanage my life._

Willow noticed that everyone was watching and waiting for her to answer Ellie's question. "Yes, I did live here for a few months but just like you, this is the first time that Spike sees the Slayer House." She then turned her attention to Xander. "That is Celeste's bag. Leave it there, she can take it in herself."

"I can what?" Celeste replied in shock, she had never carried her own bag, whenever she was staying someplace other than the cabins with Willow and the others, there had always been someone to carry it for her. Although most of the time, she didn't use her magic to fit three trunks worth of clothes, shoes and spell books into a small bag. "Fine, where do I go?" Celeste asked, looking at both Giles and Buffy.

"Celeste, do not assume that we are staying here. We do not want to impose on The Slayer and her charges." Hope stated as she walked passed Giles in order to stand closer to Willow. She moved spots for two reasons, the first being that she had begun to sense Willow's power radiating off of her and feared that it had something to do in relation to being back at the same place where she lost the second love of her life. The second reason was one that caused the eldest member of Willow's cover to blush, she noticed that Giles kept looking at her with a smile on his face. _Keep your mind on Willow. This isn't a time to be exploring these odd feelings that I have for this man that I've just met. _Hope thought to herself.

Giles still couldn't stop admiring the strength and grace that Hope had. Although he knew that his main concern had to be the upcoming battle against The First, Giles was aware of the fact that Willow and the members of her coven would definitely help in their potential success. And in order to assure that every vital member of this war was safe, he knew that it would be best if everyone stuck together. "There is enough room at the Slayer House for your coven and it will be our honor to play host to Willow's friends." He replied as he looked at every member of Willow's coven, that was until he got to Spike. "Spike, you can stay at the Watcher's Council with Andrew, myself and the other watchers-in-training." When he noticed that Spike was going to object to what he had said, Giles decided to add. "I think that Buffy would agree with me on this. It would be a good idea especially with so many young slayers around."

Although Spike still wanted to attempt an actual conversation with The Slayer, she hadn't been his main reason for wanting to stay close to the Slayer House. But before he could argue with Giles, he heard Willow's voice sneak into his mind. _"I'll be alright. Plus I think that you might go a little crazy being stuck in the Slayer House all day with that many teenage girls around." _Spike didn't like the idea of being away from Willow during the entire day but he knew that there was no point in arguing with her at this moment. He would do it when they were alone, and shortly.

"Willow!"

Everyone turned towards the source of the scream but Willow knew exactly who it was. She smiled as she was almost pushed over by the young slayer's strength as she was pulled into a hug. "April, how are you?"

"Better now that you're back. I've missed you so much. I knew that Giles and Buffy would bring me back a gift from their trip but this is the best gift ever. Now we can really kick… you-know-who's ass." April said before she noticed Willow stiffen in her arms. Taking a step back to get a better look at Willow, April caught a glimpse of the look that Kerry was sending her. "Oops."


End file.
